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"How Duolingo is using AI to humanize virtual language lessons | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/07/05/how-duolingo-is-using-ai-to-humanize-virtual-language-lessons"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages How Duolingo is using AI to humanize virtual language lessons Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Duolingo App Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship. Learn more. “The core part of our AI strategy is to get as close as possible to having a human-to-human experience,” Duolingo AI and research head Burr Settles told VentureBeat in an interview at London’s AI Summit last month. Duolingo, for the uninitiated, is a cross-platform app where users can learn languages for free, though they can also cough up $7 each month for a premium service that removes ads, delivers offline access, and more. Through gamification and bite-sized lessons, anyone can learn to read, listen, and speak in dozens of tongues. People’s reasons for learning a new language vary — perhaps it’s to boost their appeal with prospective employers, to converse with a new partner’s parents, or simply for personal fulfillment. But whatever the motivation, learning a language takes time and effort — all the more so if the learner is not immersed in the language 24/7. Most people can’t move to another country just to boost their language skills, so companies like Duolingo have capitalized on the rise of smartphones and ubiquitous connectivity to bring lessons to users, wherever they are. VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! Duolingo already supports many of the world’s most common languages, including Chinese and Hindi , not to mention fictional vernaculars, such as Klingon. Earlier this week, the Pittsburgh-based company finally rolled out support for Arabic — one of the world’s most-spoken languages. Duolingo now claims some 300 million users globally and has raised north of $100 million for a valuation of around $700 million , with big-name backers including Alphabet’s CapitalG and Kleiner Perkins. Above: Duolingo The global online language learning market was pegged at $9 billion in 2018, according to Verified Market Research, and could hit more than $20 billion by 2026. Against this backdrop, Duolingo has been investing in AI and machine learning to make lessons more engaging by automatically tailoring them to each individual — kind of the way a human tutor might. VentureBeat sat down with Settles to get the lowdown on the company’s reliance on AI and related techniques, some of the challenges involved, and where things could go from here. Data Above: Duolingo’s AI and research head Burr Settles After a stint as a postdoctoral research scientist at Carnegie Mellon University, Settles joined Duolingo in 2013 as a software engineer, covering everything from the front-end to the backend. He said he chose Duolingo over bigger companies because of the potential he saw in the role. “My interests are at the intersection of language, AI in tech, and cognitive science,” Settles said, noting that there aren’t many jobs that fall at the crossroads of all three. “You can probably count them on your fingers,” he added. Soon after Settles joined Duolingo, he and the team began identifying ways to transform the building blocks of Duolingo’s learning models, which had been loosely based on flash card scheduling algorithms from the ’70s. One of the challenges, according to Settles, has been that there is very little research on leveraging AI for education at any real scale. “What few publications there are, there’s two main problems with them,” he said. “One is that they’re usually like laboratory studies, with, like, 30 people and mostly 30 American undergraduate students. And that’s a very different population compared to the 300 million people from all over the world with different backgrounds [that use Duolingo].” What Duolingo did have was a wealth of learning data that could be used to develop new models and algorithms from scratch. “Part of the reason I took the job is the amount of data and the type of data and the uniqueness of the data,” Settles said. “We’d been using heuristics, and we were collecting data about exercises that students got right, what they got wrong, and how long it had been since they last saw it in the app. And since we were tracking those statistics, we thought ‘Why not create predictive models to do that instead?'” Half-life With that in mind, Duolingo has been developing its own statistical and machine learning models, while also incorporating tried-and-tested learning techniques like spaced repetition to optimize and personalize lessons. The theory behind spaced repetition is that repeating short lessons at intervals is better than cramming the same information within a short time frame. Related to this is what is known as the “ lag effect ,” whereby users can improve more if the gap between practice sessions is gradually increased. But the main problem with programs delivered automatically rather than by a human is that people differ widely — depending on their existing knowledge of a language and personal circumstances or temperament. And machine learning models tend to be binary, rather than taking into account the nuanced nature of the individual. This is where Duolingo’s statistical model — known as “half-life regression” — comes from. It analyzes the error patterns of millions of language learners to predict the “half-life” for each word in an individual’s long-term memory. “When we put it into production, we saw a 12% boost in user engagement,” Settles said. For context, the half-life concept is often used in physics to describe the time required for a quantity to fall to half its initial value. In language learning, this could describe vocabulary or grammar knowledge inside your brain — so if a half-life is a day and you go a day without practicing a new language, there is a 50% chance that you will forget the lesson. But it’s not an exact science — half-life regression is all about getting inside a person’s head, figuring out what they know or don’t know, and then targeting course material accordingly. “If you have two people, one who has never learned French before and another [who] took four years of high school [French], they’re probably very early on going to exhibit different patterns of what they get right and wrong,” Settles continued. “And so the ‘decay’ patterns will look very different from both of those people. The person who already has a background will make fewer mistakes, and the types of mistakes they will make [will likely be different], meaning that they don’t have to practice those things as often.” Methods used to target content — like factoring in half-life regression to get inside a student’s head the way a teacher might — are important. But the content itself is just as important, and here Duolingo is also turning to AI — to help its team build the right curriculum. “There are millions of words in the English language, and maybe 10,000 high frequency words — what order do you teach them? How do you string them together?” Settles said. “So we’ve built systems to help the content creators tailor beginner, intermediate, and advanced level material.” An additional challenge has been that while only 40% of Duolingo’s users are learning English, most of the pedagogical data the company employs to train its AI systems is developed for English. So Duolingo has effectively had to take its systems and project them onto other languages, in what is known in the AI world as transfer learning. Hiring There is a well-documented AI skills shortage — though the talent pool is slowly growing — and many of the big tech firms have been fighting to acquire promising AI startups. This talent crunch is something Duolingo has found challenging over the past few years, particularly given its focus on specific skillsets. The AI research it is doing crosses a range of disciplines and intersects with psychology and learning science, in addition to language and linguistics. “We want more people at that intersection of language and AI and cognitive science — those people are not a dime a dozen,” Settles said. “And also our bar is very high. I was recently looking at the numbers for this — less than half a percent of those who apply to our AI jobs make it all the way through.” Settles added that the company has detected a small uptick in interest from qualified people over the last 18 months or so, including applicants from other tech companies and from academia. “There are quite a few people from larger tech companies, and we also are hiring a lot of new people straight out of PhD programs — mostly because they’re a little bit more open-minded, and they haven’t been, you know, institutionalized,” Settles added. Human-to-human One of the biggest challenges with teaching a language remotely is that it can be difficult to create an experience engaging and immersive enough to keep the learner coming back. In an effort to boost engagement, Duolingo in 2016 launched bots to help teach languages through automated text-based conversations inside its app. Various bot characters were designed to respond differently to a range of possible answers, and users could hit the “help me reply” button if they got stuck. The bots should in theory get smarter the more they are used. Above: Duolingo bots Duolingo’s bots appear to be on a temporary hiatus for now , but this kind of learning — in which automated agents take the place of human tutors — could elevate virtual teaching to the next level. Recent developments in conversational AI assistants, such as Amazon’s Alexa and the Google Assistant, could open a whole new world of opportunities for language learners. Imagine if saying, “Hey Alexa, I’m ready to learn French,” could kick off the next installment of your language education? And what if Google Assistant could correct your pronunciation and grammar just by listening to you? Throw the possibility of virtual reality (VR) into the mix, with users able to slip on a headset to enter a virtual classroom environment, and it’s easy to imagine how much more engaging learning a new language could soon become. When pressed on the likelihood of Duolingo expanding into such immersive arenas, Settles did not comment, beyond acknowledging that “it’s possible.” But the company seems well aware of the inherent benefits these emerging technologies offer, and the potential for greater immersion could be huge. While Duolingo hasn’t divulged any plans around intelligence voice assistant integrations or immersive visual worlds, it has committed to further personalizing its content and delivery as it works to put the human element into automated learning. “If you think about the way good teachers operate, there’s kind of like three properties that they have,” Settles said. “One is that they know the content really well, and the second is that they have a way of getting inside your head, figuring out what you know and what you don’t know. And the third is being very engaging, and finding good ways of engaging you with that material at the level where you’re at.” “The half-life regression is one example of getting inside your head, figuring out a mental model of what you know, what you’re struggling with, and targeting that material to [you],” he said. “There’s a lot of uncharted territory there,” Settles added. “There’s lots of opportunities, I think, for AI to make new and engaging learning experiences.” VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Mounties save their man ... with a Draganflyer UAV drone aircraft (video) | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2013/05/10/mounties-save-their-man-with-a-draganflyer-uav-drone-aircraft"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Mounties save their man … with a Draganflyer UAV drone aircraft (video) Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Usually, the Mounties get their man. And usually when we hear about unmanned aerial vehicles or drones, they’re killing suspected terrorists or enemy combatants. This time, however, a drone saved a life. “To our knowledge, this is the first time that a life may have been saved with the use of a sUAS (small Unmanned Aerial System) helicopter,” says Zenon Dragan, the founder of Draganfly. After a car accident yesterday near Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, an injured and disoriented driver wandered away from the accident scene in near-freezing temperatures. Royal Canadian Mounted Police who responded to the incident couldn’t find the man, who was in danger of dying of exposure and hypothermia. Cue the unmanned aerial vehicle search. Above: View from the drone, via an infrared camera. After the driver called 911 call, telling operators he had no jacket and had lost his shoes, the local mobile carrier helped police narrow down his location — a field two miles away — via GPS. Honking, sirens, and flashing lights did not spur the injured man to make his location known, so RCMP Cpl. Doug Green launched his Dragan Flyer X4-ES, which is equipped with a forward looking infrared camera (FLIR). He found a heat signature 200 meters (320 feet) from the last-known GPS location, and a rescue team found the driver at the base of a tree next to a snow bank, unresponsive and curled up in a ball. They quickly picked him up, brought him to an ambulance, and transported him to hospital. “Without the UAV and FLIR, searchers would not have been able to locate the driver until daylight,” the RCMP said in a statement. At which point, given that he was already unresponsive, was next to a snow bank, and the night would only have gotten colder until dawn, he probably would have been dead. Draganfly’s website says that it provides a “quick to deploy, low cost, aerial platform that delivers critical, high-quality data to ground-based personnel in real time that saves lives.” For once, it’s not just marketing jargon. Here’s the video from the drone: Image credits: Draganfly, RCMP; Hat tip: The Verge VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Parrot's Anafi FPV is a drone you fly with a heads-up display | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/09/02/parrots-anafi-fpv-is-a-drone-you-fly-with-a-heads-up-display"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Parrot’s Anafi FPV is a drone you fly with a heads-up display Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Parrot's Anafi FPV. Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship. Learn more. Anafi. Bepop. Disco. Hydrofoil. Paris, France-based Parrot’s drone portfolio runs the gamut from fixed-winged aircraft to lightweight quadcopters, and it’s always expanding. In April, Parrot announced the Anafi Thermal , a $1,900 drone equipped with sensors and software tailor-made for rescuers, architects, and the energy industry that slotted alongside last year’s Anafi, a four-propeller drone with a Sony IMX230 camera mounted on a motorized gimbal. Rather than return to the drawing board for its next act, Parrot opted to teach its de facto flagship, the Anafi, a few new tricks. Today, the company unveiled the Anafi FPV (the acronym stands for “first-person view”). Like the Disco FPV before it, the Anafi FPV ships with a pair of goggles that accommodate a smartphone up to 6.5 inches, much like Samsung’s Gear VR or Google’s Daydream View. Strap it to your head and you’re greeted with live footage streamed from the Anafi’s 4K high dynamic range (HDR) camera. It’s not exactly novel — DJI’s Goggles paired with the Mavic 2 Pro offer a more or less comparable experience. But Parrot is betting that a wealth of other improvements, the bulk of which are on the software side, will sway buyers who weren’t inclined to nab the first-gen Anafi. More of the same The Anafi FPV is cut from the same cloth as the original Anafi. In fact, it’s identical in every respect. Event GamesBeat at the Game Awards We invite you to join us in LA for GamesBeat at the Game Awards event this December 7. Reserve your spot now as space is limited! You’re looking at a foldable carbon fiber mini drone that measures 241 x 315 x 64 millimeters and weighs in at under a pound (0.7 pounds, to be exact) and cuts down on noise with hollow glass microbeads packed tightly within its frame. It’s designed to furl and unfurl quickly — a practiced pilot can extend the Anafi FPV’s arms in less than three seconds, the company says. Above: Parrot’s Cockpitglasses 3, which ship with the Anafi FPV. Like the Anafi, the Anafi FPV can travel up to 2.5 miles or 26 minutes (whichever comes first) while zipping along at speeds upwards of 34 miles per hour. (It maxes out at vertical and horizontal speeds of 9 miles per hour and 34 miles per hour, respectively.) Its four propellers can withstand wind shear in excess of 30 miles per hour and altitudes 14,763 feet above sea level, and it is tempered to withstand temperatures ranging from 14 degrees Fahrenheit all the way up to 104 degrees Fahrenheit. It maneuvers nimbly, but we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention the frustrating setup experience. The Anafi FPV Parrot provided to us in advance of today’s launch wouldn’t sync with our Android phone via Wi-Fi, despite about two hours of finagling. Only after we connected the included controller to the phone with a USB cable were we able to complete the pairing process and update the drone’s firmware. Above: The Anafi FPV, with the lens cap on. In a perhaps related problem, our unit experienced a camera failure that occasionally prevented us from capturing footage. After a bit of trial and error, we managed to stream video and transfer a few recordings from the FPV’s SD card to a paired phone. But, inexplicably, the camera sometimes wouldn’t display footage — all we’d get is a black screen accompanied by an error message. To be fair to Parrot, we used a prerelease app for setup, which might have been the culprit. But camera issues aside, clearer instructions would go a long way toward easing the setup process. Camera features galore At its core, the Anafi boasts a wealth of electronics, including GPS, a barometer and magnetometer, an inertial measurement unit, an accelerometer, a gyroscope, and a USB Type-C port. But the undoubted star of the show is the 21-megapixel (f/1.2 aperture, 26-millimeter depth of focus, 1/2.4-inch sensor size) camera affixed to the end of the aforementioned gimbal (three-axis), which sports an LD aspherical lens and shoots videos in resolutions up to 4K in high dynamic range (HDR). HDR confers the benefits of wider color gamuts and contrast, and a 100Mbps maximum recording rate improves overall quality, Parrot asserts. The Anafi FPV automatically adjusts color tone and dynamic range in response to ambient lighting conditions, such that dimly lit scenes (like sunsets) get enhanced shadow detail, while brighter environments become less noisy than they would otherwise be. And while true optical zoom is missing in action, the camera can zoom “losslessly” up to 2.8 times by cropping captures to 1080p, or up to 1.9 times with an effective resolution of 2.7K. Moreover, it can rotate in 180 degrees thanks to the gimbal, and it’s optically stabilized by a three-axis system that counteracts in-flight turbulence and instability. Here’s the list of supported video formats: • 4K Cinema (4096×2160 24fps) • 4K UHD (3840×2160 24/25/30fps) • FHD (1920×1080 24/25/30/48/50/60fps) • HD (1280×720 48/50/60fps) And here are the supported photo formats: • Wide-angle: 21MP (5344×4016) / 4:3 / 84° HFOV • Rectilinear: 16MP (4608×3456) / 4:3 / 75.5° HFOV Beyond those basic shooting modes, the Anafi’s companion smartphone app — FreeFlight — boasts five panorama photo presets: Sphere, Little Planet, Tunnel, Vertical 180, and Horizontal 180. They’re generated from roughly a dozen stitched-together photos that take about five minutes to capture in total. Little Planet compresses the scenery into a “floating globe,” while Tunnel mode positions the sky in the center of the image. As for Sphere, which takes a 360-degree panorama, it works on VR headsets like the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive and supports Facebook’s 360 Photos feature. Above: The Skycontroller 3. There’s also Dolly Zoom, an homage to Alfred Hitchcock’s signature cinematographic flourish. With the tap of a button, the Anafi FPV zooms in and locks focus on trees, landmarks, and other points of interest while distorting the background. That’s the tip of the iceberg. Hyperlapse video is in tow — you’re able to accelerate videos to 15, 30, 60, 120, or 240 times normal speed. The Cinematic preset captures “smooth” and “dramatic” video by locking the camera’s horizontal axis to the tilt of the drone, and the Racing preset — which also locks the horizontal axis — features a more “aggressive” look that’s intended to be applied to high-speed footage. They sit alongside customizable settings sliders for shutter speed, ISO, white balance, and exposure compensation, along with photography aids like an image histogram and zebra exposure assistance. Remote piloting The Anafi FPV’s ostensible selling point is the Parrot Cockpitglasses 3, Parrot’s newest FPV smartphone viewer, which follows the Cockpitglasses 2, and a FreeFlight app (version 6.6) with heads-up display features that take full advantage of its form factor. The new FPV experience in FreeFlight 6.6 features a streamlined UI with an unobstructed view of the Anafi FPV’s camera feed. The HUD shows contextual information like flight speed, direction, altitude, and drone location, and it automatically highlights alerts or geofencing limits within the field of view. A click of the physical button on top of the Cockpitglasses 3 swaps to a minimal, immersive HUD interface, and switching to the new See-Through View pulls up live video from your smartphone camera with an overlay showing the position of the Anafi FPV (and an icon pointing to its location if it’s off-screen.). The experience left something to be desired, in our limited testing. It’s difficult to adjust the Cockpitglasses such that the footage isn’t hazy or overlayed atop itself (the FPV mode splits the camera feed into two images, each of which is displayed to one eye), and the low framerate (around 30 frames per second) is likely to induce motion sickness in those with a low tolerance for virtual or augmented reality. FreeFlight 6.6 also introduces Arcade Mode, which lets you swivel the Anafi FPV’s camera with the included controller’s left joystick while navigating the drone with the right joystick. Holding forward on the right joystick prompts the drone to travel in the direction the camera’s pointed. The controller itself is identical to the model that ships with Anafi: The Skycontroller 3. It streams 720p video from the Anafi’s camera from up to 2.5 miles away, and it syncs to the Anafi via a USB-A port. (A USB-C handles charging duties.) Parrot claims its 2,500mAh lasts two and a half hours on a charge with an Android phone, or five and a half hours with an iOS phone. Availability The Anafi FPV will be available for presale and in-store from early September starting at $799. It comes with a carrying case that doubles as a launch platform, plus a battery, a 16GB SD car, and a set of extra propellers. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Matternet CEO: Drones would be helpful right now if we could deploy them at scale | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2020/04/16/matternet-ceo-drones-would-be-helpful-right-now-if-we-could-deploy-them-at-scale"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Matternet CEO: Drones would be helpful right now if we could deploy them at scale Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Matternet is delivering medical shipments via drones. Are you ready to bring more awareness to your brand? Consider becoming a sponsor for The AI Impact Tour. Learn more about the opportunities here. You’d think a company that delivers medical samples by drone would thrive in today’s COVID-19 environment. But even when you’re well equipped with relevant technology, like San Francisco-based Matternet, the world has become so topsy-turvy that you might face just as many obstacles as any other business. Because Matternet supplies services to the health care industry, the startup has been able to maintain a skeletal crew under the California stay-at-home mandate. But Matternet has also had to halt operations, which hasn’t been previously reported, in three of its four locations: San Diego, California and Lugano and Zurich, Switzerland. We talked to CEO Andreas Raptopoulos to find out what the last few weeks have been like for the business and where it wants to focus next. “When the outbreak started to happen, we started looking at what can we do to help,” Raptopoulos told VentureBeat. “We have been working on that with our partners UPS, Swiss Post, and the FAA as well. We’ve been quite engaged in trying to figure out how can we launch operations that can help in this new reality. Social distancing is a must, and we must protect our populations.” Operations on pause Matternet has been forced to stop flying drones in the U.S. and Switzerland. When COVID-19 cases spiked, each hospital’s approach was slightly different, but the theme was the same. “In a crisis, you need to focus all your resources [on] dealing with that crisis,” Raptopoulos said. “Your normal processes and procedures are stopped.” VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! Lugano was the first location where Matternet had to pause operations, which had consisted of transporting blood samples between two hospital facilities since 2017. (The city is near Milan, which was the center of the outbreak in Italy.) If a blood sample taken in the emergency room was deemed urgent, it was transported to another facility by drone. But the hospital had to shut down the emergency room facility to repurpose it as a COVID-19 response facility. The same thing happened in San Diego — the hospital had to repurpose its facility to serve COVID-19 patients. In Zurich, the director of Switzerland’s main virology lab decided that all the processes would be switched to COVID-19 emergency response. The blood samples and urine specimens that Matternet was transporting for the lab were simply deprioritized. “It’s not to do with the drone or the service that we’re providing, it’s the architecture of the hospital changed,” Raptopoulos explained. “So I don’t think it’s ‘Hey, this is a luxury and we cannot have that luxury right now.’ Because what we’re doing in hospitals is deemed as essential, otherwise we wouldn’t be doing it. But it’s more to do with the way that these hospitals have to respond to a crisis, which leads to certain consequences on the architecture of their system.” The pause of operations “creates a very interesting tension, if you will,” Raptopoulos added. “On the one hand, we have the technology that can really be helpful in these times. On the other hand, we are not yet deploying it to the scale that we wish to deploy it.” Other operations Matternet is still running daily operations in Wakeman, North Carolina. “There we are connecting a surgery center on campus with the main lab,” Raptopoulos said. “Right now, in this climate there are fewer surgeries. Everything that is an elective surgery can be pushed out. There’s less volume of transport every day, but the service is continuing.” Plenty of other industries that aren’t as critical as hospitals and labs need to function during the pandemic. Drones can be useful anywhere social distancing needs to be applied. We asked if Matternet was exploring other potential customers. “We’ve been focused on two applications,” Raptopoulos said. “One is transporting COVID-19 tests from collection sites to the labs. The second application is what everyone else is talking about, the so-called contactless delivery. The benefit the drone can provide here is when you need the prescription medicine, for instance, delivered to an elderly home. Instead of having a truck doing it and a driver going into that location, potentially putting people at risk, you can instead dispatch it by a drone and there is much less risk of spreading the virus.” The startup has made progress on these applications but has nothing concrete to announce yet. It is working with UPS, the FAA, and two lab directors in two states to figure out what they can do help. Drones have also been used to survey crowds for individuals with higher temperatures that might indicate they have a fever. Has Matternet talked to government agencies about such use cases? “No. We’re focused only on transporting items, versus carrying, I guess, surveying payloads. Our focus is exclusively on transportation.” Obstacles in the air Drones are limited by how far and how high they can fly, how heavy a payload they can carry, and battery life. But the obstacles to more drones in the air are primarily regulatory and legal, not technological. In almost any contactless delivery scenario, an autonomous drone company needs two types of authorizations: to be allowed to fly over people and to be able to fly beyond the visual line of sight of an operator. The company has acquired both in Switzerland but only the former in the U.S. To be able to deliver further, say with its partner UPS, the company needs the second authorization, which was an ongoing discussion with the FAA long before the coronavirus crisis hit. Given the state of national emergency, the FAA could grant special authorizations in the name of public interest. “We have the infrastructure to scale this nationally,” Raptopoulos said. “Part of the discussions that we’ve been having with the FAA around these scaling operations is whether there is any appetite to accelerate and what will be the pathway for this acceleration. And so far, the feedback we’ve been getting from the FAA is that they wish to stick to the existing pathways. Our assumption going into the discussion is because there is a state of national emergency that has been declared at the federal level, there may be certain things that the FAA could do in order to accelerate. But we haven’t seen that happening yet.” VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Boston Dynamics open-sources health care robotics toolkit for telemedicine, vitals inspection, and disinfection | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2020/04/23/boston-dynamics-open-sources-health-care-robotics-toolkit"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Boston Dynamics open-sources health care robotics toolkit for telemedicine, vitals inspection, and disinfection Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Boston Dynamics' Spot robot deployed for telemedicine Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship. Learn more. As a direct response to the coronavirus pandemic, Boston Dynamics today open-sourced its health care robotics toolkit on GitHub. The company hopes that existing Boston Dynamics customers and other mobile robot providers can use the toolkit, which includes documentation and CAD files of enclosures and mounts, to help health care workers and essential personnel and ultimately save lives. The mobile robot provider outlined four use cases for its toolkit: telemedicine (which it has already deployed), remote vitals inspection, disinfection, and delivery. Boston Dynamics says that in early March hospitals started inquiring whether its robots could help minimize staff exposure to the novel coronavirus. (One hospital apparently shared that in a single week a sixth of its staff had contracted COVID-19.) The company spent weeks figuring out how its robot Spot, which is shipping to early adopters , can meet hospital requirements. The result is a four-legged robot that supports frontline staff responding to the pandemic “in ad-hoc environments, such as triage tents and parking lots.” In fact, a single Spot was deployed last week to Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston as a mobile telemedicine platform to help health care providers remotely triage patients. There, it has helped nursing staff minimize exposure to potentially contagious patients. The world is currently experiencing a global shortage of critical personal protective equipment (PPE), opening the door to autonomous technologies like drones and robots. Essential services are desperate for technology that can limit human contact, moving personnel and visitors out of infection range. As other businesses reopen, and arguably long after the pandemic is over, company leaders will be hungry for the same. Telemedicine The telemedicine part was the lowest-hanging fruit, so that’s what Boston Dynamics pursued first at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. The Spot robot features an iPad and a two-way radio for video conferencing. Health care providers remotely direct the mobile robot through lines of patients waiting outside the hospital to answer questions and get initial temperature assessments. Doctors can speak with patients from afar, possibly even from their own homes. VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! This process normally requires up to five medical staff, Boston Dynamics says. A mobile robot lets hospitals reduce the total number at the scene and conserve the hospital’s PPE supply. Every Spot shift reduces at least one health care provider’s exposure to the disease. Vitals inspection, disinfection, and delivery Boston Dynamics has also prototyped using Spot for remote vitals inspection to triage sick patients, for disinfection, and for various deliveries. For remote vital inspection, the company still needs to figure out how to support collecting additional vital sign information, including remotely measuring body temperature, respiratory rate, pulse rate, and oxygen saturation. So far, Boston Dynamics has done the following: We have been in dialogue with researchers who use thermal camera technology to measure body temperature and calculate respiratory rate. We’ve also applied externally developed logic to externally mounted RGB cameras to capture changes in blood vessel contraction to measure pulse rate. We are evaluating methods for measuring oxygen saturation. Additionally, Boston Dynamics wants the robots to disinfect hospital rooms and themselves. The company has also made some progress here: By attaching a UV-C light to the robot’s back, Spot could use the device to kill virus particles and disinfect surfaces in any unstructured space that needs support in decontamination — be it hospital tents or metro stations. We are still in the early stages of developing this solution but also see a number of existing mobile robotics providers who have implemented this technology specifically for hospitals. We’ve left the most obvious use case for last. The robots can deliver food, medicine, masks, and other supplies to patients in isolation. To help, the company prototyped a 3D-printable tray for Spot. Again, this minimizes health worker exposure and PPE usage. None of these services requires Boston Dynamics’ hardware or software, the company emphasized. “In many instances, we imagine wheeled or tracked robots may be a better solution for these applications,” the company said. That’s why it’s releasing its toolkit to the world. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"DJI's Mavic Air 2 has a flight time of 34 minutes | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2020/04/27/djis-mavic-air-2-has-a-flight-time-of-34-minutes"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages DJI’s Mavic Air 2 has a flight time of 34 minutes Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn DJI's Mavic Air 2, the successor to the Mavic Air. Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship. Learn more. DJI today unveiled the Mavic Air 2, the successor to the Mavic Air that was released in early 2018. There isn’t much in the way of surprises — the manual leaked in full last week — but the company detailed a few of the photography features debuting on its latest mid-range, travel-friendly foldable drone. DJI asserts that the Mavic Air 2 isn’t just a refinement of the Mavic Air — that it built the product from the ground up with a new manufacturing process. This is reflected in the Mavic Air 2’s faster flight speed and longer flight time, the company says, as well as the drone’s dimensions and weight. It’s 570 grams — just over 100 grams heavier than the original Mavic Air (430 grams) — and only a smidge larger, at 180 x 97 x 84 millimeters compared to 168 x 83 x 49 millimeters. The Mavic Air 2 features a 1/2-inch 48-megapixel Quad Bayer sensor, which has four photosites — one for each color pixel. This enables it to capture different exposures simultaneously and smooth out color and tone while reducing image noise. The Mavic Air 2 also has the distinction of being the first drone in the Mavic lineup to be able to record 4K video at 60 frames per second and 120Mbps, optionally in high dynamic range (HDR) or panoramic high dynamic range. VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! On the software side, the Mavic Air 2 can capture either 12-megapixel or 48-megapixel photos and slow-motion videos at 4 to 8 times speed (240 frames per second) in 1080p. Its SmartPhoto photography suite includes Scene Recognition, which taps AI to detect sunsets, blue skies, grass, snow, and trees and optimize the color, detail, and tones accordingly; Hyperlight, which takes multiple snapshots and merges them to cut down on noise and boost brightness; and HDR Photo, which automatically captures seven photos at various exposures and merges them together to improve contrast. In addition, the Mavic Air 2 ships with a family of videography features dubbed FocusTrack. Spotlight 2.0 — which was previously reserved for higher-end DJI drones like the Inspire 2 — locks a subject in the frame while letting the pilot move the drone. ActiveTrack 3.0 selects a subject to follow automatically, employing 3D mapping tech and revamped path-finding algorithms to better recognize subjects, avoid obstacles, and re-engage when subjects occlude. Lastly, Point of Interest 3.0 — which benefits from improved surface recognition — sets an automated flight path around a target person, animal, or thing. There’s also QuickShots, a set of preprogrammed flight maneuvers (Rocket, Circle, Dronie, Helix, Boomerang, and Asteroid) that use the Mavic Air 2’s 3-axis gimbal and electronic image stabilization for ultra-steady footage. In mid-May, we’ll see an 8K “hyperlapse” feature that mimics the effect of a timelapse but with the added element of physical movement. Beyond the Mavic Air 2’s camera chops, DJI is spotlighting the flight performance, which the company characterizes as “unparalleled” in the drone’s price range. That remains to be seen, but it’s true the Mavic Air 2’s quoted flight time — 34 minutes — exceeds that of the Mavic Air (21 minutes), while the maximum transmission distance is substantially improved, at 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) over both 2.4GHz and 5.8GHz frequency bands versus the Mavic Air’s 4-kilometer (2.4-mile) range. (DJI’s OcuSync 2.0 tech automatically switches between the two bands based on signal strength.) As for the top speed, it’s the same as the Mavic Air: 68.4 kilometers per hour (42.5 miles per hour). Those aren’t the only hardware upgrades of note. The Mavic Air 2 has obstacle sensors on the front and rear that warn pilots when they’re too close to an object and can stop the drone from moving any closer in order to avoid collisions. Additional sensors and auxiliary lights assist with other functions, like automatic landing in difficult lighting conditions. DJI’s AirSense technology warns nearby drone pilots of other aircraft (like airplanes and helicopters) and displays their location on the controller’s screen, and the updated Advanced Pilot Assistance System (APAS 3.0) helps the Mavic Air 2 create a new path around, under, or over objects with smooth transitions and fluid movements. (DJI says that AirSense will initially only be available in North America but will come to other regions in “summer 2020.”) The Mavic Air 2 is available for preorder starting today at $799 — the same MSRP as the Mavic Air — which puts it between the smaller DJI Mavic Mini and pricier Mavic 2 Pro. It ships with a redesigned remote controller with a speaker and spring-loaded phone mount, all necessary wires and cables, and a single battery. The $988 Fly More package throws in two extra batteries, a case, a charging hub, and neutral-density filters. Firm global ship dates haven’t been announced yet, but DJI says it expects the Mavic Air 2 to hit U.S. stores on May 11 (and Canada on May 15). It’s available in China starting this week, and preorders for the rest of the world begin today. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"AT&T's 5G network hit 2Gbps -- here's why it buried the news | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/04/29/atts-5g-network-just-hit-2gbps-heres-why-it-buried-the-news"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Analysis AT&T’s 5G network hit 2Gbps — here’s why it buried the news Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Netgear's Nighthawk 5G Mobile Hotspot is the first AT&T mobile 5G device, and already available for purchase. Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship. Learn more. Public relations professionals know that the easiest way to bury bad news is to let the story out late on a Friday, when many journalists are packing up and heading home. So why did AT&T wait until nearly midnight on Friday to share word that it was the first U.S. 5G carrier to cross the 2Gbps speed mark — seemingly good news that everyone interested in 5G should know about? To put this in context: The 5G standard was developed to facilitate multi-gigabit cellular speeds, but ever since late 4G chips adopted early 5G technologies, there’s been industry-wide ambiguity over how carriers would differentiate and market their 5G networks. In early 2018, Qualcomm suggested that early 5G chips and networks might be differentiated by 2Gbps or 4Gbps speeds , but as actual 5G networks have popped up, these companies have tended to promise 1Gbps “peaks” with more typical speeds in the 300 to 600Mbps range. These speed differentials matter. As AT&T puts it, a consistent 1Gbps speed lets you download a two-hour HD movie in 20 seconds, while a consistent 2Gbps speed enables the same download in 10 seconds. On current 4G networks, downloading the same movie would take between 200 and 1000 seconds, which is to say somewhere between three and 17 minutes, most likely on the longer side. If switching from a 4G to 5G phone cuts your file transfer times from 10 minutes to 10 seconds, you’d have good reason to switch, and maybe even change how you use your device. But there’s a difference between test speeds and real world speeds — AT&T has been especially ambiguous when it comes to the latter. The company announced the launch of its mobile 5G network in late 2018 with no performance promises , claiming that it was still gathering data. AT&T later said that its only 5G device, the Netgear Nighthawk 5G Mobile Hotspot , was “designed to eventually reach a peak theoretical speed up to 979Mbps in ideal lab conditions,” with the caveat that “actual speeds will be lower.” Yet its engineers have been working to push those speeds up, apparently even late into the last Friday of every month. Over the past 30 days, the Nighthawk has somehow gained the power to outperform “ideal lab conditions” in the real world. Exactly one month ago today, AT&T said its 5G network was the first in the U.S. to surpass 1Gbps , notably using the Nighthawk “in multiple cities.” Now AT&T is saying the Nighthawk broke the 2Gbps barrier “outside the lab in the real world,” specifically in Atlanta, Georgia, one of 19 cities where it’s currently offering 5G service. Oddly, both announcements were made late on Fridays, and although AT&T had no official comment as to why, I suspect there are two possible reasons for this. The first is that AT&T felt bona fide competitive pressure to get its good numbers out ahead of key rival Verizon, which one month ago was just on the cusp of launching its mobile 5G network and now is only weeks away from launching the Samsung Galaxy S10 5G , with plans to expand its 5G mobile network to more cities. Putting out 1Gbps and 2Gbps “best case” AT&T figures ahead of these launches could make Verizon’s lower real-world numbers seem unimpressive. A second reason: AT&T knows that regular consumers still aren’t using the Nighthawk, so its numbers aren’t guaranteeing anything to users. The carrier is just saying that its hardware, presumably with recent software and tower updates, can sometimes hit a much higher performance level than previously expected — and deliver on 5G’s promise of multi-gigabit speeds. Putting out the news late on a Friday night lets AT&T put a “2Gbps” flag in the ground without having to face the challenging questions of when its users are actually going to get these speeds, and who those users will be. As of last week, AT&T said that the only customers currently on its 5G network are businesses , and that’s not surprising, as it is still restricting sales of the Nighthawk 5G hardware behind a contact form. That might not change until AT&T launches its own version of the Samsung Galaxy S10 5G, which will happen at some unspecified time in the spring — possibly in June. Meanwhile, Verizon is serving regular consumers in six cities with either 5G home broadband or Motorola’s 5G Moto Mod devices. It’s great in the abstract that some businesses in Atlanta may be able to get 2Gbps speeds on a 5G device regular consumers can’t buy. But what really matters is the actual speed normal 5G users across multiple cities will see on actual consumer devices. Verizon has provided a sub-1Gbps sense of what to expect, but AT&T hasn’t. That makes this 2Gbps peak accomplishment … well, worthy of a late Friday night release. When there’s something really worth shouting about, expect AT&T to share the news when most of its customers are actually awake to read about it. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Verizon’s 5G network covers parts of 31 cities, matching 2019 goal | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/12/23/verizons-5g-network-covers-parts-of-31-cities-matching-2019-goal"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Verizon’s 5G network covers parts of 31 cities, matching 2019 goal Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Verizon shows off its 5G network in Los Angeles, California at Mobile World Congress L.A. Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship. Learn more. Back in February, Verizon said its 2019 plan was to offer mobile 5G in over 30 cities — a non-trivial task for a carrier focused on the short-distance, millimeter wave flavor of 5G service. Today, the carrier announced it has met its goal with a week to spare, though the accomplishment comes with the caveat that its 5G service is only available in small parts of each city. As of today, Verizon’s mobile 5G network is launching in Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio, as well as the coastal area of Virginia known as Hampton Roads, with each deployment focusing on downtown areas and major landmarks. The carrier notes that it’s now offering 5G at John Glenn Columbus International Airport, the “first U.S. airport with live, commercially available 5G Ultra Wideband service,” as well as Cleveland’s Progressive Field football stadium and multiple shopping centers in Virginia. Verizon’s 5G rollout has been somewhat quixotic throughout 2019, with the carrier rolling out the fastest version of 5G in relatively few and sometimes unusual locations, a strategy it branded “5G Built Right.” In addition to covering some streets in major cities , Verizon installed 5G in parts of select NFL stadiums , offering high-speed cellular service to users in certain seats and lending devices to demonstrate 5G-powered AR and its 2Gbps peak network speeds. The company says Progressive Field is the 15th NFL stadium with 5G service, though coverage is only available “in part of the lower seating area.” Other U.S. carriers have relied on lower speeds but further-reaching towers to blanket larger areas of cities with slower 5G coverage. T-Mobile now operates a nationwide low-band 5G network that can deliver 20-300% better performance than 4G , depending on the city, while Sprint and AT&T are offering consumer 5G in fewer cities, using mid-band and low-band, respectively. Verizon’s consumer network unquestionably delivers the fastest 5G speeds, but it may struggle to work indoors and in vehicles, depending on where its small cell hardware is installed. In August, Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg suggested the carrier would offer 5G service across 50% of U.S. land in 2020 , a dramatic expansion made possible by dynamic spectrum sharing. This uses existing 4G mid-band towers to deliver both 4G and 5G service as demanded by devices. It’s unclear at this point how fast Verizon’s mid-band 5G service will be, but the carrier subsequently warned that it might “approximate to a good 4G service” in performance. New 5G devices beyond the seven currently offered by the carrier will likely be needed to access its combined mid- and high-band network assets. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Samsung Galaxy S20 begins shipping March 6 | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2020/02/11/samsung-galaxy-s20-begins-shipping-march-6"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Samsung Galaxy S20 begins shipping March 6 Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship. Learn more. At the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco this afternoon, Samsung unveiled its newest flagship series: Galaxy S20. Like S-series lineups before it, the S20 is a showcase of the company’s technological innovations, which this time around include a powerful eight-core processor, a display with a 120Hz refresh rate, and across-the-board 5G compatibility. Preorders go live this week ahead of a March 6 ship date. Here’s what you need to know. Design Samsung stuck with tradition in announcing three phones today, not one: the Galaxy S20, the Galaxy S20+, and the Galaxy S20 Ultra. Sadly missing in action is a low-end “e” model, like the S10e — that experiment appears to have begun and ended last February. The Galaxy S20 and S20 feature aluminum frames and bezel-to-bezel screens, as well as new adhesive glass — Corning’s Gorilla Glass 6, to be exact — that’s extraordinarily light and thin. (The S20 and S20+ clock in at 0.36 pounds and 0.41 pounds, respectively; the S20 Ultra, which trades that aluminum for stainless steel, weighs 0.49 pounds.) They’re IP68 rated to withstand exposure to water 1.5 meters deep for up to half an hour, and Corning claims the display glass can withstand up to 15 consecutive drops from 1 meter onto rough surfaces and that it’s two times stronger than the S9 and S10 series’ Gorilla Glass 5. Event GamesBeat at the Game Awards We invite you to join us in LA for GamesBeat at the Game Awards event this December 7. Reserve your spot now as space is limited! The S20 series’ top and bottom bezels are a tad narrower than last time around, mostly to make way for an ambient light sensor and an earpiece speaker. (The S20 measures 29 x 63.7 x 3 inches, while the S20+ measures 27.2 x 59.7 x 3 inches.) Perhaps more noticeable is the 6-millimeter hole-shaped cutout in the top center, machined to precisely fit the front-facing camera. Samsung calls the design “Infinity-O,” and it made its debut on the S10 series and midrange Galaxy A8 series phones, which launched in 2019. On the S20, S20+, and S20 Ultra, the hole-punch cutout is a perfect circle that measures about half the circumference of the Galaxy S10 series’ cutout. Here’s how the display sizes and resolutions break down: Galaxy S20: 6.2 inches, 3,040 by 1,440 pixels (542 PPI) Galaxy S20+: 6.7 inches, 3,040 by 1,440 pixels (502 PPI) Galaxy S20 Ultra: 6.9 inches, 3,040 x 1,440 pixels (487 PPI) The Galaxy S20’s HDR-compatible, Dynamic AMOLED screen is a tad taller than that of the S10, which measures 6.1 inches diagonally — the result of a taller 20:9 aspect ratio — and it’s almost imperceptibly blurrier at about 542 pixels per inch (compared with the S10’s 550 PPI) owing to the unchanged 3,040 by 1,440 pixels resolution. On the subject of the display, which supports 16 million colors at 100% color volume, it curves around the lips of either edge, as does the S20+’s and S20 Ultra’s. Noteworthy is the refresh rate: It’s 120Hz, double the refresh rate of the S10 series and on even keel with the Razer Phone 2 and the Asus ROG Phone 2. A 120Hz fresh rate will translate to improved overall responsiveness — at least in theory. Anecdotally, scrolling through apps and pinching-to-zoom on webpages feels smoother on high-refresh-rate phones. But there’s a trade-off on the S20 series — switching to 120Hz sets the display resolution to 2,400 x 1,080. Expect icons and graphics to look slightly out of focus. Both the Galaxy S20 and S20+ have a Qualcomm-supplied 3D Sonic Sensor ultrasonic fingerprint sensor embedded beneath their display glass. They work as you’d expect — placing a digit on the highlighted portion unlocks the phone — but the tech is said to be faster than rival solutions and more secure to boot, with FIDO Alliance Biometric Component certification. We’re hopeful the performance bit is true, given that the S10 series’ fingerprint sensors were criticized for their sluggishness. You’ll find a vertically aligned camera module and an LED flash around the back of the S20 and S20+, a perpendicular contrast to the Galaxy S10 series’ horizontal camera module. Exclusive to the S20+ and S20 Ultra is a 3D Depth Camera, a time-of-flight sensor that resolves distance based on the speed of light by measuring the time it takes for photons to pass between the sensor and a subject. Like the range-based imaging system on the Galaxy S10 5G and Note10+, it’s used with Samsung’s Live focus video and Quick Measure features, letting you blur out the background in real time as you take a video; swap between foreground and background focus; or judge the width, height, area, volume, and more when an object is in the frame. As for the handsets’ bottom portions, present and accounted for are a USB Type-C port, a loudspeaker (which works in tandem with the earpiece to deliver stereo sound), and a microphone, but not a 3.5mm headphone jack. The S20, S20+, and S20 Ultra are the first S-series phones to ship without audio ports (and they likely won’t be the last). Making matters worse, there isn’t a Type-C-to-3.5mm adapter in the box, so you’ll have to make do with the included Type-C AKG earphones if you have nothing on hand but analog headphones. Analog jacks aren’t the only victim of this year’s nipping and tucking. Absent is the Bixby key, a button on a number of Galaxy-branded devices that triggers Samsung’s homegrown AI assistant by default. On the S10 series, it sat next to the power button on the left side, opposite a right-aligned power button and a volume rocker. The power button and volume rocker haven’t gone anywhere on the S20 series, but they’re the only physical keys in sight. Photography and speakers Samsung’s flagships have long ranked among heavyweights like the Pixel and the iPhone on the photography front, and the company is looking to cement its dominance with the Galaxy S20 series. Here’s how it breaks down between models: Samsung S20: 12-megapixel (wide), 64-megapixel (telephoto), 12-megapixel (ultrawide) Samsung S20+: 12-megapixel (wide), 64-megapixel (telephoto), 12-megapixel (ultrawide), 3D Depth Camera Samsung S20 Ultra: 108-megapixel (wide), 48-megapixel (telephoto), 12-megapixel (ultrawide), 3D Depth Camera The S20 series’ cameras feature the same variable aperture tech found on the S9 and S10 series. A tiny contracting and expanding motor switches between f/1.5, a lower aperture better suited to dim lighting, and f/2.4, the default setting. Elsewhere, the zoom has improved. Both the S20 and S20+ boast 3x hybrid optical zoom (3x optical zoom, 10x digital zoom), while the S20 Ultra bumps things up to a whopping 10x. Samsung’s calling the S20 Ultra’s zoom Space Zoom, and it says the periscopic lens delivers up to 10x optical zoom and 100x zoom overall when combined with “AI-powered” 10x digital zoom. The S20 and S20+ have 64-megapixel telephoto lenses, up substantially from the S10’s and S10+’s 12-megapixel lenses. As for the S20 Ultra camera’s 108-megapixel resolution, it’s matched only by Xiaomi’s recently released CC9 Pro, which features an identical 1/1.33-inch sensor — Samsung’s ISOCELL Bright HMX. (Samsung and Xiaomi designed the sensor together, in point of fact.) Samsung says it captures several lower-resolution shots that combine nine pixels into one by default (for an effective 12 megapixels), and that there’s an option to shoot in the full 108-megapixel resolution for those who wish to do so. Camera software Hardware is nothing without great software, and the S20 series appears to have it in spades. The camera app’s Automatic mode flips to the f/1.5 aperture automatically when the ambient lighting dips below a certain level, and an AI-powered scene detection feature — Scene Optimizer — tweaks color settings like contrast and white balance and enables HDR based on the landscapes, people, animals, and objects in-frame. (It’ll even recommend switching to the ultrawide angle lens when appropriate, as well as to modes fine-tuned for food photos, selfies, panoramas, and more.) There’s a faster and more accurate version of Samsung’s Dual Pixel focusing technology and multiframe noise reduction. And as with the S9 and S10, the S20 series improves image crispness by capturing a multi-image burst shot, dividing it into separate and distinct sets, and generating a composite picture. In addition, there’s Single Take, which takes pictures and videos — live focus, cropped, ultra-wide, and more — as you pan around an environment and curates the best of the bunch. (It also works for selfies.) Best Shot takes a photo autonomously when the Galaxy S20 detects it’s properly lined up, complementing a multi-capture feature that snaps photos using multiple sensors simultaneously. There’s a bevy of bokeh effects in what Samsung’s calling Artistic Live Focus, which blurs the background while maintaining foreground focus, including Color Point (it drains color from the blurred background, turning it black and white), Mono (it makes the entire picture black and white), and Side Light (it adds a virtual light source off-camera). There’s also Ultra Bright Night, an improvement upon the Galaxy S10’s Bright Night (a take on Google’s Night Sight and Huawei’s Night Mode) that combines multiple shots from the primary, telephoto, or front-facing camera to enhance the quality of pictures in “very dark” conditions. Samsung last year opened up the Galaxy Camera software development kit, enabling developers to make custom photography plugins and apps for the S20 series. And every handset in the Galaxy S20 series has an “Instagram Mode” co-developed by Facebook, which allows you to launch into Stories, editing, and other features quickly. As for the S20 series’ front-facing cameras, the S20 and S20+ have a single Sony IMX 374 10-megapixel shooter — a slight downgrade in the latter’s case. The S10+ had dual sensors that captured wide-angle selfies and ostensibly delivered better bokeh in Live Focus portraits. On the other hand, the S20 Ultra packs a 40-megapixel Wide Front camera that’s able to record footage at 4K and 60 frames per second. All of them benefit from Samsung’s new Smart selfie angle feature, which taps AI to detect the number of people in-frame and switch to an appropriate angle. On the subject of video, the S20 series can record clips at up to 8K at 30 frames per second (or 4K at 60 frames per second) and optionally in HDR10+ (with 10-bit color), though you’ll need an HDR-compatible display to fully appreciate the latter. (Thanks to a partnership with Google, 8K clips can be uploaded directly to YouTube.) Super Slow-Mo is present too — the G20 series shoots clips at a blistering 960 frames per second at up to 1080p, as with the S10 series. In cases where you need a shot steadier than what the S20 series’ optical image stabilization can provide alone, there’s Super Steady 2.0, which Samsung is positioning as a “professional-level” setting that can hold its own against action cams like GoPro’s Hero 7. That’s thanks in part to sophisticated electronic stabilization algorithms fine-tuned over the course of months, as well as AI motion analysis. AKG All three phones in the S20 series — the S20, S20+, and S20 Ultra 5G — play stereo sound through the earpiece and a bottom-firing loudspeaker. They’re both tuned by AKG Acoustics and support the Direct Stream Digital (DSD) format (64/128) and Dolby’s Atmos 3D simulated surround sound technology in supported apps. And thanks to an ongoing collaboration with Spotify, the Z Flip’s default keyboard lets you quickly search and share songs, albums, and playlists from Spotify via a generated link, and Samsung’s clock app lets you choose a song to wake up to. And the S20 series’ Music Share feature extends the Bluetooth connection to a car radio or speaker. Connectivity and processor The beating heart of the S20, S20+, and S20 Ultra is one of two chips: Samsung’s Exynos 990 or Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 865. Samsung detailed the Exynos 990 variants at today’s event, but some territories — likely North America, Latin America, Hong Kong, China, and Japan — will get a Snapdragon-based model. On the Wi-Fi connectivity side, the S20 series supports the standards you’d expect in flagship 2020 smartphones — namely Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax (Wi-Fi 6) and Bluetooth 5.1. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 models benefit from the FastConnect 6800 Wi-Fi chip, which can deliver Wi-Fi 6 speeds nearing 1.8Gbps while including Super Wide Band voice over Bluetooth for higher-quality audio communications and 75% improved power efficiency. Plus, there’s Samsung’s software-based Intelligent Wi-Fi feature, which jumps between LTE and wireless with the help of AI that recognizes when the phone’s in an enclosed location and when it’s on the move (like when you’re in a car or walking down the street). It’s worth noting that only the S20+ and S20 Ultra support mmWave 5G connectivity in the U.S. The S20 supports sub-6HGz 5G networks exclusively — at least for now. Later this year, Verizon will introduce a version of the S20 that supports mmWave 5G. Exynos 990 As my colleague Jeremy Horwitz wrote in October 2019, when the Exynos 990 was officially announced, Samsung’s flagship chipset is built on the latest 7-nanometer process rather than the 980’s older 8-nanometer technology. It’s an eight-core design comprising two unnamed “powerful custom cores,” two high-performance Cortex-A76 cores, and four power-efficient Cortex-A55s — an upgrade from the 980’s twin Arm Cortex-A77s and six Cortex-A55s. And on the graphics front, the chipset packs a Valhall-based Mali-G77 GPU as opposed to the Exynos 980’s Mali-G76 GPU, which Samsung claims offers a 20% boost in graphics performance or power efficiency. Also on tap with the Exynos 990 is a dual-core neural processing unit and improved digital signal processor can “perform over 10 trillion operations per second,” as well as an image signal processor that can concurrently process data from three image sensors. The 990 boasts LPDDR5 data rates of up to 5.5Gbps, and there’s a 120Hz refresh-rate display driver that’s meant to improve animations and reduce screen tearing. Plus, it’s designed to work together with Samsung’s Exynos Modem 5123, which can tap into both sub-6GHz and millimeter wave 5G networks and legacy 2G, 3G, and 4G networks. Thanks to ultra-dense 1024-QAM signal encoding and 8-carrier aggregation, Samsung quotes the Modem 5123’s theoretical download maximum download speeds at 3Gbps on 4G networks, 5.1Gbps peak speeds on sub-6GHz 5G networks, or 7.35Gbps from mmWave 5G. Snapdragon 865 Qualcomm is billing the Snapdragon 865, which was unveiled during the company’s annual Tech Summit last December, as “the world’s most advanced 5G platform.” To this end, it packs all of the chipmaker’s latest wireless and processor components, including a new 2.84GHz Kryo 585 CPU, Adreno 650 GPU, fifth-generation AI engine, and Spectra 480 image signal processor (ISP). Above: Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 865 processor. The aforementioned Spectra 480 ISP promises up to 2 gigapixels per second of processing speed for dramatically higher-resolution photography and videography, as well as support for 200-megapixel still photos (roughly twice the Snapdragon 855’s upper limits) and 8K video capture. The GPU improvements — which are equally tangible — include between 20% and 100% improved graphics performance compared with the Snapdragon 855. At 90Hz screen refresh rates, Qualcomm says the GPU achieves a 35% power efficiency improvement over the prior chip. On the AI front, the fifth-generation AI Engine inside the 865 — Hexagon 698 — delivers 15 trillion operations per second (twice that of Qualcomm’s fourth-generation processor) with 35% superior power-efficiency. And using the Snapdragon X55 modem and RF System, the 865 supports global 5G roaming and multi-SIM devices including both millimeter-wave and sub-6GHz frequencies, with peak 5G speeds of up to 7.5Gbps. Battery life, memory, and storage So clearly the Galaxy S20 series packs a processing punch, but what about the battery life? That depends on the model. Fortunately, all three smartphones support Samsung’s Adaptive Fast Charging tech and Fast Wireless Charging, and both the Galaxy S20 and Galaxy S20+ ship with 25W fast chargers in the box. (Galaxy S20 Ultra owners get a speedier 45W charger, which Samsung claims can fully recharge the battery in 74 minutes flat — it’s calling this Super Fast Charging.) Snapdragon variants have the advantage of hardware acceleration for H.265 and VP9 codecs, which improves power efficiency by 7 times compared with the Snapdragon 845 and reduces power consumption during video recording by 30%. And all S20 models boast Samsung’s Adaptive Power Saving tech, which optimizes battery performance based on app use. Here’s the capacities of each phone: Galaxy S20: 4,000mAh (up from the S10’s 3,100mAh) Galaxy S20+: 4,500mAh (up from the S10+’s 3,400mAh) Galaxy S20 Ultra: 5,100mAh One reason for the larger batteries is the Galaxy S20 series wireless power-sharing feature — PowerShare — which lets you use the S20, S20+, or S20 Ultra to recharge Qi accessories by placing them on the flat portion of the phones’ rear covers (below the camera). While all three phones in the S10 series are endowed with PowerShare, they don’t share RAM and storage configurations. See below: Galaxy S20: 12GB RAM (8GB in some regions), 128GB/256GB storage (expandable up to 1TB via microSD) Galaxy S20+: 12GB RAM (8GB in some regions), 128GB/256GB/512GB storage (expandable up to 1TB via microSD) Galaxy S20 Ultra: 12GB/16GB RAM, 128GB/256GB/512GB storage (expandable up to 1TB via microSD) Software Like the Galaxy S10 series before it, the Galaxy S20, S20+, and S20 Ultra run One UI 2.1, Samsung’s redesigned overlay atop Android 10. Samsung teamed up with Google to optimize Google Duo video calls on the S20 series, the companies said — you’re able to chat with up to eight friends at a time in 1080p quality. Samsung and Netflix collaborated on exclusive content for S20 users, which is accessible through the Samsung Daily app and Bixby as well as Finder. Later this spring, Microsoft will launch a Forza series spinoff — Forza Street — in the Galaxy Store. The Galaxy S20 series is also the first non-Google device to support Live Caption, which uses a combination of three AI models to transcribe speech from any media in real time. OneUI 2.1 brings with it quality-of-life improvements like a screen recorder with controls that let you adjust the resolution, record external and internal microphone audio, and more, in addition to an enhanced dark that works with a wider selection of apps and time-based triggers. In other news, One UI 2.1 adopts the iOS-like navigation gestures introduced in Android 10, including a one-handed mode that can be accessed with a swipe down on the gesture bar. The camera app is a bit easier to use in OneUI 2.1, thanks to a streamlined design with a drag-and-drop gesture that puts photo and video modes at your fingertips. And thanks to Samsung’s ongoing partnership with Microsoft, the Gallery app now integrates with OneDrive. In other improvements, non-app shortcuts can now be added to the lock screen, including for Do not disturb and the flashlight. OneUI 2.1 ships with the latest version of Google’s Digital Wellbeing, which features a focus mode that disables all notifications and apps so you can focus on work and other things. Plus, the revamped Device care section of the settings menu lets you decide when Wireless PowerShare should stop charging other devices. All three handsets in the S20 series ship preloaded with a customized version of Adobe Premiere Rush, Adobe’s cross-platform video editing app for smartphones, tablets, and PCs. They’ve also got Quick Share, which lets you beam files to compatible Galaxy devices within range, and an improved default keyboard that recommends emojis and stickers based on the words you type. Bixby One UI isn’t the S20 series’ only spotlight software feature. Bixby Vision — which taps computer vision to recognize and classify objects in photos, much like Google’s Google Lens and Amazon’s Flow — natively supports document scanning. And thanks to integrations with Vivino, Amazon, Nordstrom, Sephora, Cover Girl, and others (and Samsung’s data-sharing partnerships with FourSquare and Pinterest), it can scan barcodes and show relevant product listings, recommend wine, display the calorie counts of food, and let you virtually “try on” makeup products. As for Bixby Voice, Samsung’s answer to Amazon’s Alexa and Google Assistant, it works just as it does on the S20 series — say “Hey, Bixby” or hold down the Bixby key to prime it for commands like “What’s the weather forecast?” and “Call John.” It supports more than 3,000 commands in all, including chained ones like “Open the gallery app in split-screen view and rotate misaligned photos” and “Play videos on a nearby TV.” The newest incarnation of Bixby has better natural language processing, faster response times, and built-in noise reduction tech that together significantly enhance its phrase and word comprehension skills. And as of publication time, it’s conversant in eight languages, including English, Korean, Chinese, Spanish, German, French, Italian, and Spanish. It’s also decently conversational. When you ask Bixby about upcoming concerts around New Year’s, for example, it’ll remember the date range and your preferences when looking for tickets in the future. And when you request that Bixby book a restaurant, it’ll infer the size of your party and the time based on past reservations and make recommendations based on your previous searches. Bixby, like any modern voice assistant, recognizes requests to add items to your calendar, queue up tunes, place calls, and launch apps, and it can answer basic questions about sports scores, movie showtimes, business hours, and more. Additionally, thanks to newly released developer tools (Bixby Developer Studio, Bixby Templates, and Bixby Views ) and a digital storefront (Bixby Marketplace), it supports a greater number of third-party apps and services than ever before. Bixby also boasts Bixby Routines. Much like Alexa Routines and routines on the Google Assistant, Bixby offers preset and personalized routines, such as Driving and Before Bed routines, which can be customized based on your habits. DeX There’s good news on the DeX front: As with DeX on the Note10 and S10 series, it doesn’t require a dock — Samsung calls this Dex Lite. All you need is a USB Type-C-to-HDMI adapter; connecting it to an external display gets DeX up and running in a jiffy. Like the Galaxy Tab S4 before it, the S20, S20+, and S20 Ultra in DeX mode display a Windows-like interface, replete with resizeable windows, a dedicated taskbar, mouse and keyboard support, and shortcuts to files, the photo gallery, and settings. Samsung teamed up with Microsoft to optimize Office apps (Word, PowerPoint, and Excel) for the interface, and with Epic Games to support Fortnite. Other partners include the New York Times, Deezer, Amazon, TripAdvisor, Citrix, VMWare, and Craigslist. Smartphone apps run in DeX, but Samsung makes no guarantees that they won’t misbehave. Pricing and availability In the U.S., only 5G-compatible variants of the S20 series will be available for purchase, but that won’t be the case elsewhere. 4G LTE versions of the S20 and S20+ will make their way to some markets in the coming weeks and months. Here’s how the pricing breaks down: S20 5G: from $999 S20+ 5G: from $1,199 S20 Ultra: from $1,399 The S20 and S20+ will be available in Cosmic Gray, Cloud Pink, and Cloud Blue in the U.S. As for the S20 Ultra, it’ll come in Cosmic Gray and Cosmic Black. A special edition Olympic Games Athlete edition with a matte gold finish will be released to coincide with the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. GamesBeat's creed when covering the game industry is "where passion meets business." What does this mean? We want to tell you how the news matters to you -- not just as a decision-maker at a game studio, but also as a fan of games. Whether you read our articles, listen to our podcasts, or watch our videos, GamesBeat will help you learn about the industry and enjoy engaging with it. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"FCC's largest spectrum auction nets $4.47 billion for 5G mmWave bands | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2020/03/12/fccs-largest-spectrum-auction-nets-4-47-billion-for-5g-mmwave-bands"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages FCC’s largest spectrum auction nets $4.47 billion for 5G mmWave bands Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship. Learn more. Once touted as the key building block of 5G networks, high band millimeter wave spectrum has taken a back seat to longer-distance low and mid band frequencies in most carriers’ early rollouts. But the FCC hasn’t had problems auctioning increasingly large millimeter wave blocks: Today, the Commission announced that it netted $4,474,530,303 in sales of upper 37GHz, 39GHz, and 47GHz spectrum for 5G use, in addition to $3,084,172,898 in incentive payments to hasten the removal of existing licensees from the bands. Touted as the largest auction of spectrum (by quantity) in U.S. history, Auction 103 effectively adds three additional millimeter wave bands to previously auctioned 24GHz and 28GHz frequencies , giving carriers the ability to offer exceptionally high-bandwidth wireless services on a national basis. The 24GHz and 28GHz auctions raised $2.7 billion, led by top bidders AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon, with large cable companies and smaller regional carriers participating to lesser extents. Verizon led the latest bids , winning 4,940 licenses, followed by AT&T (3,267 licenses), Dish Network (2,651) and T-Mobile (2,384). Collectively, the recent auctions have opened nearly 5GHz of additional millimeter wave spectrum for 5G use, with the latest round adding 3.4GHz in total across three bands. FCC chairman Ajit Pai notes that the quantity of auctioned spectrum now eclipses that “used for terrestrial mobile broadband by all wireless service providers in the United States combined.” Spectrum has been described as the “ mother’s milk of wireless technology ,” with each new block of spectrum similar to adding another set of tuning frequencies to a car radio’s dial. Since cellular devices can transmit and receive data across multiple frequencies — think radio stations — at once, download and upload speeds can get dramatically faster if big blocks are made available. U.S. carriers have made multi-billion-dollar bets on these newly available millimeter wave frequencies as the next big pipes for wireless data transmission. The FCC plans to start bids later this year in two separate mid band auctions, with a block of 3.5GHz spectrum beginning the process on June 25 and 3.7GHz C-band spectrum on December 8. While the raw quantity of spectrum being offered in these frequencies won’t match the millimeter wave allocations, they’ll enable U.S. carriers to extend the combined distance and speed of their 5G networks and aid in harmonizing with Asian and European 5G deployments that have focused on similar frequencies. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"YouTube and Netflix reduce streaming quality in Europe, Disney+ delays launch in France due to coronavirus | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2020/03/20/youtube-and-netflix-reduce-streaming-quality-in-europe-but-disney-launch-looms"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages YouTube and Netflix reduce streaming quality in Europe, Disney+ delays launch in France due to coronavirus Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn President of Walt Disney Distribution Franchise Management, Business & Audience Insights Cathleen Taff speaks during CinemaCon. Are you ready to bring more awareness to your brand? Consider becoming a sponsor for The AI Impact Tour. Learn more about the opportunities here. Video streaming services that seemed to be entering a golden age just a few weeks ago are now facing pressure from European governments worried about the surge of internet traffic from coronavirus quarantines. France is on the frontline in this battle, following the decision to impose mandatory confinement starting March 17. With schools turning to distance learning to keep students on track, adults required to work at home, and friends staying connected via Zoom and Skype, the internet infrastructure is groaning under massive demand. DE-CIX, a global internet exchange company based in Frankfurt, Germany, reported that at its main network node it has seen average data traffic leap more than 10% in recent weeks, including reaching a new all-time peak of 9.1 terabits per second data throughput. The uses driving that surge include a 50% increase in video-conferencing traffic and a 25% increase in cloud gaming and social media use. While that’s just a snapshot from Frankfurt, systems across Europe are straining under the same pressure. The situation has pushed Thierry Breton, the European Commissioner for Internal Market and Services, to ask streaming service providers to help lighten the load. Important phone conversation with @ReedHastings , CEO of @Netflix To beat #COVID19 , we #StayAtHome Teleworking & streaming help a lot but infrastructures might be in strain. To secure Internet access for all, let’s #SwitchToStandard definition when HD is not necessary. — Thierry Breton (@ThierryBreton) March 18, 2020 Netflix subsequently announced that it would lower its streaming resolution for 30 days across Europe. “We estimate that this will reduce Netflix traffic on European networks by around 25% while also ensuring a good quality service for our members,” the company said in a statement sent to journalists. YouTube also agreed to reduce its resolution after Breton made the request to Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai. “We are making a commitment to temporarily switch all traffic in the EU to standard definition by default,” the company said in a statement. https://twitter.com/ThierryBreton/status/1240916113971646465 Breton has reportedly requested that Disney+ delay its planned March 24 launch in several European countries, including the U.K. and France. Disney already canceled its planned European launch event earlier this month. So far, Disney has not announced a delay. VentureBeat has reached out to the company for comment and will update this story if we hear back. Update March 23 at 7 a.m. Pacific : Disney announced over the weekend that it would delay the launch of its streaming service in France until April 7. The planned launch will continue on March 24 in other European countries, but the company will reduce the streaming resolution. In addition, Amazon Prime will also reduce its bitrate for streaming, as did Facebook and Instagram. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"How Zoom, Netflix, Dropbox, and Equinix are tackling coronavirus infrastructure challenges | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2020/03/27/how-zoom-netflix-dropbox-and-equinix-are-scaling-infrastructure-to-handle-coronavirus-pandemic"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages How Zoom, Netflix, Dropbox, and Equinix are tackling coronavirus infrastructure challenges Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Are you ready to bring more awareness to your brand? Consider becoming a sponsor for The AI Impact Tour. Learn more about the opportunities here. As the coronavirus places increasing pressure on the internet’s infrastructure, companies that have become essential to people’s daily lives are racing to ensure that the lights stay on. This involves adapting to changing usage patterns and increased traffic demands. Behind the scenes, it also means keeping services online even as the teams charged with doing so are facing the same mandates to work from home. In a webinar this week hosted by Kentik , a network analytics company, top managers from Dropbox, Equinix, Netflix and Zoom discussed the challenges they are facing amid a rapidly evolving crisis. “This is all super fresh for everyone,” said Dave Temkin, vice president of networks at Netflix. “Everyone’s just trying to figure out what the new normal is.” VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! With the coronavirus still on the rise in most nations, more people are facing mandatory quarantine orders that have closed schools and forced those who can to work from home. People are adapting by implementing distance learning , turning to professional and personal video conference services and apps, and relying on video streaming services for entertainment. “I had a call with a regulator yesterday from a European country who literally said to me, ‘In an ideal world, every single one of our citizens would be sitting at home on a couch watching Netflix right now,'” said Temkin. “And, you know, obviously, I don’t think that’s something that any government official would have said before the current situation.” The result is a big shift in usage patterns that is quite different than what many large companies had forecast. While people tend to think of the internet as a single system, it is really a patchwork of datacenters and delivery networks stitched together by a wide range of companies. Far from being virtual, making these physical networks run smoothly means betting on where the traffic demands will originate and to where they will travel in order to strategically place network capacity over time. Bill Long, senior vice president of product management at datacenter giant Equinix , said the companies have seen spikes in traffic ranging from 10% to 40% depending on the region. Overall, the news is good. In the short term, many of these companies said they had already built excess capacity while also increasingly automating management of their networks. That has given them headroom to manage their service during a period of wild unpredictability. “We’ve been architecting it for many years,” said Alex Guerrero, senior manager of SaaS operations at Zoom. “And we want it to be extremely scalable, especially in situations like we’re dealing with right now. So we have automation in place so that we can create quickly scale our infrastructure with very little human intervention.” Still, this surge has made governments nervous, particularly in Europe, where politicians asked streaming companies like Netflix to help lighten the congestion. Netflix, YouTube, Facebook, Amazon, and others responded by reducing their streaming resolution for the coming weeks. “We’d certainly been seeing issues in some of the early wave European countries like Italy and Spain, where they had had a shelter in place for lockdown orders earlier than than other places,” said Temkin. “At the end of the day, I think they just had the best interest of their citizens and their networks in mind. No regulator wants to be the one to tell their citizens that they made the decision to make Netflix stop working during a pandemic when everyone is isolated at home. And so all they’re trying to do is just make sure that their country’s networks are stable. And we said, ‘Hey, we feel like we’ve got a few levers we can pull. Let’s pull those levers and let’s go with it.'” Traffic patterns These companies are carefully monitoring a big shift in internet traffic patterns caused by the move toward working at home. For instance, in many cases they had prepared their networks for large amounts of centralized traffic coming from corporate campuses, universities, or office parks. Now that traffic has been dispersed and scattered into residential neighborhoods. “There will be a different pattern, where we used to have a lot of traffic coming from one university and from thousands of accounts, and now we’ll see a lot of traffic coming from a thousand different places, from many different networks, from the same people,” said Dzmitry Markovich, director of engineering at Dropbox. Adjusting their networks to adapt to these new patterns presents several challenges. The first is just a question of capacity and flexibility. Netflix has been able to call on its partner Amazon Web Services to allocate greater capacity when needed to help keep its video streaming stable, Temkin said. At the same time, Netflix has tried to accelerate its own plans to build out parts of its network. Infrastructure roadmaps through the winter holidays are being implemented now. That has caused some crunches because suppliers of network equipment have sent their employees home. “We have had multiple fires at this point with our supply chain trying to figure out how and where we’re going to get servers to deploy into networks,” Temkin said. “We’ve resolved all of them at this point. We’re fairly comfortable with our supply chain. But as an example, our primary server manufacturer is located in Santa Clara County in California. And so they got a shelter-in-place order and [we] had 24 hours to figure out how to get as many of the boxes out of there as we possibly could.” The concern is what happens if every company starts rushing to put in place more capacity. Temkin said Netflix is trying to weigh its own needs in terms of equipment and capacity against other more urgent uses to make sure suppliers aren’t put in the uncomfortable position of having to select one client over another. “We recognize there’s a lot of other things going on that are potentially more important than Netflix, frankly,” Temkin said. “And we want to be sympathetic to those causes and allow people who have those immediate needs, whether it’s e-learning or health care or anything else like that, to have the ability to get the capacity they need. So we don’t rush and try to get it all at the same time and put people in an awkward situation.” The other riddle that is difficult to solve is whether these usage patterns will be temporary, or whether this crisis will provoke a more permanent shift in working, learning, and entertainment habits. Forecasting when and where to build additional infrastructure is going to be a much more complicated exercise. “How much of these shifts that we’re seeing now are going to stick and become the new normal?” Long said. “And then how many are going to actually revert to old ways of doing things? I’ve sat online with my kids and they’re doing classes and it works pretty well. So I think there’s gonna be a lot of new patterns that we’re all gonna adjust to and it’s just gonna be interesting to see what stays and how we creatively adapted.” Work at home These challenges are arising as many of these companies are also adapting to their own teams working virtually. “Equinix operates a lot of physical infrastructure, and people have to come into and out of our datacenters all the time,” Long said. “We made the hard decision in Germany, Italy, Spain, and France to restrict access into those datacenters for those exact reasons of health and safety of our employees, our customers, but also the long-term viability of these assets.” Not surprisingly, adjustment hasn’t been too bad for Zoom’s employees, though even they have been sharing tips on how to work at home. “Like waking up and getting dressed as you would if you went to the office, stuff like that,” said Guerrero. “It’s just little tips and tricks like that.” For some, that also means learning to manage work and family demands when spouses and kids are in the house. But for others who live alone, there is also concern about long-term isolation. “Some people are missing out on social interactions,” said Dropbox’s Markovich. “And for many people to go to working from home and almost zero social interactions, it’s very, very painful. And they require a lot of support.” At Netflix, the work from home and network management is taking on another dimension as the company tries to figure out how to resume work on some productions. In general, the entertainment industry has ground to a halt. But some projects that were in the post-production phase might still be able to be completed. But whether employees’ home networks or their networks in their neighborhoods can handle the demands of such large files transfers could pose a problem. “One of the big challenges we are trying to figure out is what parts of it can we restart,” Temkin said of production efforts. “These might be things like post processing for visual effects, animation, things that traditionally people have not done from home because they require significant amount of compute power and a significant amount of bandwidth to move. We’re undergoing efforts to figure out how can we get that operating out of people’s houses.” VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Our post-coronavirus world: How tech is influencing which new habits will stick | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2020/03/28/our-post-coronavirus-world-how-tech-is-influencing-which-new-habits-will-stick"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Guest Our post-coronavirus world: How tech is influencing which new habits will stick Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Are you ready to bring more awareness to your brand? Consider becoming a sponsor for The AI Impact Tour. Learn more about the opportunities here. Over the last few weeks, as the coronavirus has swept across the globe, we have all had to dramatically adjust our daily lives. Even those of us who have worked remotely before find this new level of detachment a significant adjustment. During this time, I have also begun to wonder, when we emerge from this, which we will, if we will quickly snap back to normal or if this has the potential to embed new daily habits and ways of working permanently? Some studies suggest it takes a minimum of 21 days to form a new habit and two months for a new behavior to become automatic. Unfortunately, I’m already nearing the 21-day mark and can easily expect myself and the rest of the world to be in a similar state by the two month mark. During this period, we can also expect a series of new regulations and policies to impact the way we go about our daily lives. So what are the potential habits and regulations that will linger after we emerge from this unprecedented challenge? In-home diagnostics Wearables have been growing in popularity over the past 5 years, driven mainly by Fitbit and Apple, however, a new crop are emerging as sensor technology continues to advance. Everything from smart clothing to the Oura Smart Ring. The pandemic will potentially change this space forever. Steps are great, my sleeping patterns are interesting, but what if this data was collected at an aggregate level to predict similar events in the future? Kinsa , maker of a smart thermometer, has already given a glimpse into the value of this data. The snapshot below from Kinsa’s Health Weather Map, on March 22, 2020 shows what appears to be a significant abnormality in body temperature in New York and Florida, potentially warning of an emerging situation, such as a rise in people with the coronavirus. This kind of overview would allow affected regions to intervene early. Today neither the Apple Watch nor the Fitbit measure body temperature, though I predict that will change and soon. However, I believe the bigger opportunity, outside of wearables will be the in-home diagnostics market. There will be a bigger shift towards virtual doctors appointments as a result of this. In many areas of the U.S., and globally, this shift has happened very quickly. Dr. Christopher Crow recently explained to The Dallas Morning News , “We’re seeing a 180-degree change in how primary care medicine has been practiced in just a week or two. We’re doing 10,000, 12,000 virtual visits a day on our network, and that number could double by next week.” Crow is president of Catalyst Health Network, a clinically integrated network of primary care physicians. However, virtual doctors appointments don’t completely replace the need for in-person visits when patients need to take the standard flu test, strep test, or have their vitals read. The potential for in-home diagnostics to become as standard as the telephone once was or the computer is now, is real and a tremendous new opportunity. The amount of new investment and focus on this space will expedite the progress. Grocery ecommerce Only 4% of Americans ordered groceries online prior to this crisis. But since stay-in-place orders went into effect, droves of shoppers are shifting their shopping online. This has meant a significant increase in demand for grocery retailers who relied on ecommerce as a small percentage of sales. Suddenly they’re dealing with many times their normal volume. Here, habits are being formed on both sides. The consumer is learning that ordering online isn’t as challenging as once thought, and the retailer is learning to properly staff and fulfill these orders at scale. If we look back to 2003, during the SARS epidemic in Asia, we can see that it was the catalyst behind the ecommerce boom in China. With fewer people flying to China to source materials, many turned to Alibaba, a small 4-year-old company that matched suppliers online. Likewise, JD.com saw its success after having to shutter many of its brick and mortar stores, launching ecommerce as a last-ditch effort. Could COVID-19 do something similar to grocery ecommerce, or conversely add to the exponential growth of Amazon, which is already fulfilling some of the demand? The biggest risks to the lasting growth of online grocery are the current wait times and out of stocks that all grocery retailers are dealing with. If this crisis ends over the next few weeks, I can imagine the overall effect may be a negative one, turning off more people than it converts. However, if the crisis does last longer, retailers will catch up to demand, the experience will improve, and shopping habits will be altered. Home cooking Local restaurants and cafes have felt an especially difficult burden during this time. Hours and staff have been cut. And although they’re launching new channels, such as delivery, this is a worst-case scenario for many. A remote workforce does not go out for lunch, and a populace urged (or forced) to self-isolate does not go out to dinner. Instead, we’re cooking our own meals. In the Great Recession we saw a sudden drop in total out-of- home eating, but this was mostly a measure aimed at conserving income. Our current challenge is much more complex and could be more prolonged. If a greater percentage of us realize that working from home is now an option after this crisis, what are the long-term effects? There may also be much longer-term economic effects that prolong a return to normal. While the Great Recession was followed by a 10-year bull run, the pandemic could fundamentally change or eliminate certain industries. Within just two weeks, I find myself much less wasteful. I am cooking and preparing for multiple meals at once and looking for inspiration to try something new. I sense I am not alone in this regard and perhaps a result of the coronavirus will be that a whole new generation learns or relearns how to cook. Remote working Remote work has the potential to reshape our entire economy. While the geopolitical outcome will be a greater enforcement of borders, the economic outcome may be a removal of borders. There is rarely a substitute for face-to-face, but technology has advanced to the point where it is not always needed. In fact, there are benefits to remote working that a few companies have known for a while and many more are now discovering. One company , Stripe, a leader in the online payments space, announced last year , “We are establishing a fifth (development) hub that is less traditional but no less important: Remote. We are doing this to situate product development closer to our customers and improve our ability to tap the 99.74% of talented engineers living outside the metro areas of our first four hubs.” Automattic, the maker of the WordPress platform has been remote since day one and has been a leader in the movement: “Our creed includes the statement, ‘I will communicate as much as possible, because it’s the oxygen of a distributed company’.” The reality is that many companies have already integrated some aspects of remote work. At my own firm, for instance, we were already heavily distributed across the globe (30 countries) to be closer to our clients. However, we still tend to open formal offices in many of these locations. After this event, I wonder how many companies like ours will find that kind of office presence unnecessary. The commercial real estate market may end up being one of the hardest hit. However, the positive implication is greater access to opportunity for a greater number of people and lifestyles. It’s hard to think ahead to what may change in the future as many of us are dealing with very serious health and economic challenges right now. My hope is that we emerge better as a result of this experience and see a wave of new habits and innovations that improve everyone’s quality of life. Kyle Fugere is Global Head of Ventures & Labs at Dunnhumby. He previously founded two companies in the B2B technology space, is a board observer for GrocerKey, Pulsate, and Askuity, and is a frequent speaker and writer on the subject of retail innovation. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Facebook commits $100 million to struggling news outlets during coronavirus crisis | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2020/03/30/facebook-commits-100-million-to-struggling-news-outlets-during-coronavirus-crisis"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Facebook commits $100 million to struggling news outlets during coronavirus crisis Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Are you ready to bring more awareness to your brand? Consider becoming a sponsor for The AI Impact Tour. Learn more about the opportunities here. Facebook today announced plans to invest $100 million to boost local news media outlets whose advertising revenues have been gutted by the COVID-19 crisis. In a blog post , Facebook’s vice president of global news partnerships, Campbell Brown, said local journalists are playing a vital role in providing information about COVID-19. But their employers’ ad-driven business models are threatened by the economic fallout from quarantines imposed to curb the disease. “If people needed more proof that local journalism is a vital public service, they’re getting it now,” she wrote. “And while almost all businesses are facing adverse financial effects from this crisis, we recognize we’re in a more privileged position than most, and we want to help.” Facebook will donate $25 million in direct grants and will spend $75 million on marketing on local news sites to make up some of the lost revenue. The company announced it had already made grants to 50 newsrooms, including the Post and Courier of South Carolina, the Southeast Missourian , and El Paso Matters in Texas. The company has made various efforts in recent years to form new partnerships that would help news organizations in decline. That includes a $300 million journalism grant program. Like many large tech companies, Facebook has been under pressure to use its vast profits and platform to help out during the pandemic. The company had separately created a $100 million program to help small and mid-sized businesses survive the crisis. The company had previously said it would help international health agencies leverage its Messenger service to distribute information. It also created a Messenger Coronavirus Community Hub to centralize information for users. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Vive Cosmos VR headset has an inexcusable flaw -- horrid tracking | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/11/20/vive-cosmos-vr-headset-has-an-inexcusable-flaw-horrid-tracking"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Review Vive Cosmos VR headset has an inexcusable flaw — horrid tracking Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Side view of the HTC Vive Cosmos. Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship. Learn more. Virtual reality isn’t the massive business that many of us thought it would turn into back in 2015 and 2016. But it’s still chugging along with new software and hardware like HTC’s Vive Cosmos. The $699 headset is available now and represents a series of upgrades over first-generation Vive systems. But in my testing, a core function of the Cosmos has failed so consistently that none of its other improvements matter. The Vive Cosmos has a combined resolution of 2880-by-1700, which is 88 percent more pixels than the original Vive. The head-mounted display is also much more comfortable and easier to wear. And unlike the original Vive, Cosmos doesn’t require external tracking beacons. Instead, it uses an array of cameras. But it’s that tracking that has brought the whole thing down for me. It doesn’t work. Or, at least, it stops working often enough that I consider the whole thing busted. Vive Cosmos needs better tracking The idea behind Vive Cosmos and its tracking is good. Get rid of the external “lighthouses” that you had to hang on your wall or mount on tripods with the first Vive. Instead, use cameras to calculate the headset movement. This “inside-out” tracking is something we’ve seen in a number of other headset, such as the Oculus Quest. Event GamesBeat at the Game Awards We invite you to join us in LA for GamesBeat at the Game Awards event this December 7. Reserve your spot now as space is limited! But what works extremely well for the Quest, doesn’t for the Cosmos. The issue is that the headset seems to struggle to understand what it’s looking at. I have a pretty standard office with a lot of space for room-scale VR. I also have what I would consider more than enough light. The Cosmos disagrees on that point. What happens is that in the middle of a game, the Cosmos will stop and say that it lost tracking and I should try turning on more lights. I do not have any more lights, and I don’t want anymore. And I’m not gonna hesitate to blame the Vive Cosmos for the failure here. I tested the Oculus Quest in the same space with lights on and off, and it didn’t have any problems. Updates could improve this, but I wouldn’t wait on that. If you want a high-end VR headset with a high-resolution display, get the Index from Valve. It does require base stations for tracking, but I don’t mind that for PC VR. If I have to connect the headset to a computer anyhow, setting up some lighthouses is hardly inconvenient. And I would recommend the Vive Cosmos alternatives on both ends of the spectrum. The Valve Index on the high end at $1,000. And the wireless, standalone Quest is great starting at $400. You can even use that on PC now with the Oculus Link cable. As-is, the $700 Cosmos isn’t as convenient as the Quest or as capable as the Index. And that makes it easy to pass up. GamesBeat's creed when covering the game industry is "where passion meets business." What does this mean? We want to tell you how the news matters to you -- not just as a decision-maker at a game studio, but also as a fan of games. Whether you read our articles, listen to our podcasts, or watch our videos, GamesBeat will help you learn about the industry and enjoy engaging with it. Discover our Briefings. Join the GamesBeat community! Enjoy access to special events, private newsletters and more. VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Cloud Native Computing Foundation says Envoy proxy has graduated from open source incubation program | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2018/11/28/cloud-native-computing-foundation-says-envoy-proxy-has-graduated-from-open-source-incubation-program"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Cloud Native Computing Foundation says Envoy proxy has graduated from open source incubation program Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Attendees arrive at KubeCon + CloudNative Con Europe 2018 in Copenhagen. Are you ready to bring more awareness to your brand? Consider becoming a sponsor for The AI Impact Tour. Learn more about the opportunities here. The Cloud Native Computing Foundation today announced that Envoy proxy is the third project to graduate from its incubation program for open source projects that support cloud-based application development. Envoy joins Kubernetes and Prometheus as CNCF’s most advanced projects to date and seeks to change the way applications are written and deployed for online-based businesses and services. “Since joining CNCF, Envoy proxy has been one of our fastest-growing projects and has undoubtedly contributed to the momentum we’re seeing within the service and edge proxy space,” said Chris Aniszczyk, COO of CNCF, in a statement. “With users at many of today’s largest scale organizations, and some incredibly bright developer minds behind it, we’re excited to continue cultivating Envoy’s community as a newly graduated project.” Read more: How a developers’ movement wants to sue Kubernetes and microservices to make the web faster, stable, and more open VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! Envoy was originally developed at Lyft and was then given to CNCF to be nurtured as an open source project. Envoy is described by CNCF as “a high-performance open source edge, middle, and service proxy. The project helps ease the transition to, and operation of, cloud native architectures by managing the interactions among microservices in order to ensure application performance.” In designating Envoy as having “graduated,” CNCF has determined that the service is being widely embraced by developers, has created a neutral governance process for allowing ongoing development, and is showing a “strong commitment to community sustainability and inclusivity.” “The growth of Envoy over the last two years has been astounding, and beyond anything that I would have ever believed when I started the project,” said Matt Klein, the Lyft software engineer who was the original architect of Envoy, in a statement. “From end users to creators of higher-level products to the major cloud providers, the breadth of Envoy-based solutions continues to grow and amaze me. Graduating from the CNCF is a major milestone and an indication that Envoy’s community is strong and the project is ready for wide enterprise adoption.” VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"WordPress now powers 30% of websites | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2018/03/05/wordpress-now-powers-30-of-websites"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages WordPress now powers 30% of websites Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn WordPress for iOS Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship. Learn more. WordPress now powers 30 percent of the web, according to data from web technology survey firm W3Techs. This represents a 5 percentage point increase in nearly two and a half years, after WordPress hit the 25 percent mark in November 2015. It’s worth noting here that this figure relates to the entire Web, regardless of whether a website uses a content management system (CMS) or not. If we’re looking at market share, WordPress actually claims 60.2 percent, up from 58.7 percent in November 2015. By comparison, its nearest CMS rival, Joomla, has seen its usage jump from 2.8 percent to 3.1 percent, while Drupal is up from 2.1 percent to 2.2 percent. Above: WordPress hits 30% It’s also worth pointing out that for the purposes of this study, “WordPress” refers to both the non-hosted open source blogging software that you download and the hosted WordPress.com platform. VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! In terms of methodology , W3Techs scans the top 10 million websites, as determined by Alexa rankings , and then takes a three-month average. From this fairly sizable sample, the firm determined that nearly one-third are now running on WordPress. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"WordPress 5.3 arrives with block editor improvements, new theme, and automatic image rotation | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/11/12/wordpress-5-3-arrives-with-block-editor-improvements-new-theme-and-automatic-image-rotation"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages WordPress 5.3 arrives with block editor improvements, new theme, and automatic image rotation Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship. Learn more. WordPress.org today launched WordPress 5.3, which focuses on refining the user experience in the blog management tool. Version 5.3, which was developed by 645 volunteer contributors, includes block editor improvements, expanded design flexibility, a new Twenty Twenty theme, automatic image rotation, improved Site Health Checks, admin email verification, and developer improvements. You can download the new release now from WordPress.org/Download. WordPress is a content management system (CMS) that powers over 30% of the web. The latest version is dubbed “Kirk,” in honor of jazz multi-instrumentalist Rahsaan Roland Kirk. New WordPress 5.3 features WordPress 5.3 refines the block editor with more intuitive interactions and improved accessibility. There are now additional layout options and style variations. In fact, WordPress.org says there are over 150 new features and usability improvements. There is improved large image support for uploading non-optimized, high-resolution pictures. The CMS also now defaults to larger image sizes. In terms of accessibility improvements, WordPress 5.3 integrates block editor styles in the admin interface. These improved styles fix color contrast on form fields and buttons and consistency between editor and admin interfaces. They also add new snackbar notices, standardize to the default WordPress color scheme, and introduce Motion for interacting with your blocks. If you use a keyboard to navigate the dashboard, you’ll be happy to learn the block editor now has a Navigation mode that lets you jump directly from block to block. VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! As for the blocks themselves, you can expect: The new Group block lets you easily divide your page into colorful sections. The Columns block now supports fixed column widths. The new predefined layouts make it a cinch to arrange content into advanced designs. Heading blocks now offer controls for text and background color. Additional style options allow you to set your preferred style for any block that supports this feature. This release also introduces a new Twenty Twenty theme. Twenty Twenty, which focuses on clarity and readability, includes the typeface Inter. It comes in a Variable Font version, a first for a default theme, which improves load times by containing all weights and styles in just two font files. WordPress 5.1 introduced Site Health, a suite of features focused on security and speed. WordPress 5.2 built on the suite with Site Health Check and WordPress 5.3 adds expanded recommendations highlight areas for troubleshooting on your site. Additionally, WordPress 5.3 includes automatic image rotation and admin email verification. The former ensures your images will be correctly rotated upon upload according to the embedded orientation data. The latter simply means you’ll now be periodically nagged to confirm that your admin email address is up to date when you log in as an administrator. Developer features WordPress 5.3 also brings the following for developers: Date/Time Component Fixes: Developers can now work with dates and timezones in a more reliable way. Date and time functionality has received a number of new API functions for unified timezone retrieval and PHP interoperability, as well as many bug fixes. PHP 7.4 Compatibility: WordPress 5.3 aims to fully support PHP 7.4. This release contains multiple changes to remove deprecated functionality and ensure compatibility. WordPress continues to encourage all users to run the latest and greatest versions of PHP. WordPress 5.3 was released some six months after its predecessor. The team did not mention WordPress 5.4, but it’s likely already in the works. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"How Twitch became huge ... but still misses Ninja | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/12/03/kevin-lin-interview-how-twitch-became-huge-but-still-misses-ninja"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages How Twitch became huge … but still misses Ninja Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Dean Takahashi of GamesBeat interviews Kevin Lin of Twitch at Slush in Helsinki in 2019. Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship. Learn more. Twitch , the Amazon-owned livestreaming service, has made livestreaming and content creators into worldwide phenomena. Fortnite broke out as one of the top battle royale games because so many influential streamers were playing it live on Twitch. But it was a bit touch and go for Twitch at the beginning — 13 years ago, in 2006 — when it was known as Justin.tv. Justin Kan, Emmet Shear, Kevin Lin, and others were there at the start, when the idea of watching someone stream their daily life seemed ridiculous. But they kept at it, and their business took off with the livestreaming of games. They prioritized gaming and renamed the company Twitch. And now Twitch has over 15 million unique daily visitors and 3 million content creators, or people who do their own broadcasts. 500,000 of those people stream every day. Twitch’s popularity has risen in tandem with the rise of esports, influencers like Tyler “Ninja” Blevins, and spectator-worthy games such as Fortnite. Twitch’s audience is often bigger than major broadcast TV networks. As Twitch’s audience grew to tens of millions of users, Amazon bought the company in 2014 for $970 million. Meanwhile, rivals such as YouTube, Microsoft’s Mixer, Facebook Live, and Caffeine are competing with Twitch. I spoke with Kevin Lin, cofounder of Twitch who is still with the company, at the recent Slush event in Helsinki, Finland. Event GamesBeat at the Game Awards We invite you to join us in LA for GamesBeat at the Game Awards event this December 7. Reserve your spot now as space is limited! Microsoft recently stole away Ninja , the top streamer on Twitch who had more than 50 million followers, to appear exclusively on Microsoft’s competing Mixer livestreaming service. I asked Lin about that. “Very sad about that,” Lin said, regarding Ninja’s defection. “We’ve known Ninja for 10 years. A lot of people don’t know he has been streaming for that long, before he broke out with Fortnite. He used to be a Halo pro player. Very dedicated Halo streamer. Then when battle royale came out, he rode that wave. It was really cool. What Fortnite did and what Ninja did was really bring games to the next level. That’s something we’ve always thought about. How do we impact the games industry and make it OK to play?” We also talk about the future of streaming, including the promise of 5G and mobile game streaming. Here’s an edited transcript of our talk. You can also watch it on video here. Kevin Lin: I’m co-founder and former COO of Twitch. Twitch is a live streaming interactive video platform for video gamers, traditionally. We’ve now expanded into many other categories, but we were built as a home for gamers. That was the original concept. Above: Kevin Lin, right, is cofounder of Twitch, which has 15 million daily visitors for its livestreaming service. GamesBeat: Tell us how Twitch got started, in the founding stage. Lin: Twitch used to be a company called Justin.tv, a live video streaming platform for general use. Think YouTube, but live. This was launched in 2007. It started as a one-man reality show based on Justin Kan, one of our other co-founders. He streamed his life 24/7. From there we grew the company, got through the recession somehow, started making money, and as a result — we had not only built this huge distributed live video network around the world, but it gave us the flexibility to start thinking about what we really wanted to do with the platform. Flash forward to mid-2010. A bunch of us — we’re all gamers. We were huge StarCraft nerds. We somehow got access to the StarCraft II beta, and we were playing it constantly. We were playing in the office. Instead of working we were just playing video games. We realized that the behavior we exhibited ourselves — we were going home after work late at night, around midnight. We played StarCraft that late. We would go home and watch YouTube videos of pro players with commentary from YouTube creators to get better at the game. We thought to ourselves, “Well, this really could be live. There’s no reason I wouldn’t watch a StarCraft pro live to learn from how they play.” We started reaching out to creators on other platforms, like YouTube creators, that weren’t doing live video. That was a big change for us, actually spending the time to talk with our core customers, the creators, get to know them, and learn from them what tools they needed to have that we needed to build in order to make them successful. GamesBeat: I remember at the time that a lot of people made fun of Justin. “Isn’t it ridiculous that he thinks his life is interesting enough to live stream?” Lin: Yeah, there’s a lot of down time in real life, as it turns out. Justin was streaming himself working, walking around San Francisco. He was carrying an 80-pound backpack full of batteries to do that. Flash forward to today, where we’re doing that again. There’s a whole section of the site that used to be called “IRL.” Now it’s called “Just Chatting.” But it’s going back to that original concept of lifecasting. It all spawned from our own love for video games, talking to creators and learning about what they needed. We eventually launched Twitch in 2011, June 2011, at E3. Some of the feedback we got from the games community was, “We want our own home. We don’t want to be on Justin.tv. We’d rather be in our own place.” We forked the company in two. Some of us carried over to do Twitch, and then Michael Seibel, who’s now CEO of Y Combinator, spun out a company called Socialcam with two of our engineers as co-founders, which got bought by Autodesk in 2012. GamesBeat: And then Amazon bought you. Lin: Yep, in 2014 we were purchased by Amazon. What a lot of people don’t know, even to this day — we still are one of the top five websites in most countries around the world in terms of pure bits being pushed, and yet a lot of people don’t know what we do. We serve a very specific audience — a big audience, but a very specific audience. Anyway, that fundamentally changed our lives. It changed the company. Now we get to do a lot of fun things and expand into other verticals. Above: Twitch Studio makes it easier to stream. GamesBeat: How big is Twitch at this point? Lin: These days we have more than 15 million people coming to the site on any given day. We have about 1.5 million concurrent users on average, the number of people watching our platform at any given second. People are watching for almost two hours a day. If you think about your average television viewing time, that’s four, four and a half hours depending on country and region. We’re about half of that for a young audience. Our average age is 26. We have 3 million creators creating content every month, and tens of thousands of partners. Partner streamers are those that are making money on the site. Partners are now making millions of dollars a year. It’s kind of crazy. For those of you who don’t know Twitch very well, people are making millions of dollars streaming video games, something they were already doing anyway, from the safety of their own homes. GamesBeat: Getting paid to play video games. Lin: It’s the dream. GamesBeat: It was not so long ago that people thought it was just a crazy idea to watch someone else play a video game. Spectating a video game was ridiculous, maybe five years ago? Certainly 10 years ago. It’s interesting to see how technology, in this case, has produced cultural change. Lin: If you think about it – and this is something I wish we were better at pitching when we were raising money in 2012 and 2013 – this is actually a habit that we already partook in as kids. We had a Nintendo, a Sega Genesis. We’d go to the arcade. You’d be with your friends, and you had only two controllers back then, so chances are you weren’t doing homework or anything constructive while your other friends played. You were watching them play while you waited for your turn. Without even realizing in it, we were participating in passive entertainment through video game content. Because of that, because our whole generation grew up doing that, it just wasn’t something that we thought was — I think Silicon Valley reacted to it exactly like you said. “This is ridiculous.” Video games were already stigmatized as a bad a hobby. You were better off going outside and playing sports or something else. There was a lot of refusal to believe that this was actually a habit of an entire generation. The investors didn’t get it. They didn’t experience that growing up. But we did. I think we just tapped into something that was already a latent habit. GamesBeat: You take that habit of watching someone else play, and then that turns into the whole esports phenomenon. You guys grew in a vortex with each other — esports on one hand and Twitch viewership on the other. Lin: Esports was a big part of the genesis of the idea for Twitch. We were watching StarCraft esports and engaging with pro players and commentators as early creators on the site. That was a heavy focus of ours. Esports has been around for more than 20 years at this point. Twitch has been around for a little over eight years. We really just unlocked — with the proliferation of broadband and mobile internet, we were able to do live video at a non-ridiculous cost. It was affordable. We were able to build those pipes for this unique thing that was starting to happen, which became what you see today in esports. GamesBeat: And these viewership numbers now are dwarfing a lot of traditional media. Lin: Oh, yeah. Across Twitch, which is partly esports, and then a lot of individual streamers, that’s 1.5 million concurrents. For most TV networks in the U.S. and elsewhere, that’s pretty high. That puts us in the top five compared to cable TV channels in most countries across the globe. GamesBeat: So Twitch is bigger than CBS? Lin: At times, yes. A lot of folks — you think about local news channels, for instance, in small towns, or even in big cities. Average concurrency there might be 50,000 to 100,000. They peak during big shows in the millions, of course. We also peak in the millions. 1.5 million is our average. We’re really right there. Above: Fortnite is still on top on Twitch game livestreaming. GamesBeat: The other phenomenon that’s intersecting here is live video. We’ve all seen the rise of that. Our cell phone networks got better and enabled that. Given all the different things that had to come together in order to make this possible, it seems like there was a bit of a perfect storm for you. Lin: Oh, yeah. Everything from the proliferation of broadband to mobile phones — you look at southeast Asia as an example. A lot of countries there didn’t entirely skip broadband development, but the youth are really attached to their phones. That’s their first device. It’s not a PC. Maybe they went to a PC bang or a LAN café to play PC games, but for the most part now they’re heavily engaged with mobile gaming content. They’re watching everything on their mobile phones. It really was perfect timing for us when we started this idea. You could pull down a 5-megabit, 7-megabit per second stream, which is required for video games. You don’t want granularity. You want to see the graphics with their highest integrity. You want to see the streamer and interact with them. GamesBeat: Just last week I saw an astounding stat about southeast Asia and gamers there. About 90 percent of them are playing mobile esports. They’re all competing with each other. The craze for espots in southeast Asia is rivaling StarCraft in Korea now. Lin: Absolutely. You look at games like PUBG Mobile, Free Fire, Arena of Valor, these are popular games. We don’t see them in the west as much, but they’re very popular in southeast Asia and Latin America, to the point where some of these games have 50 to 60 million daily active players. That’s daily. Their esports are peaking — these games have only really been around for a couple of years, and not only have they reached a large player base, but from an esports perspective, the tournaments they run will see a million concurrents. That’s huge. That’s bigger than a lot of the big esports leagues that you see talked about in the west. Overwatch League and LCS peak much higher, but a lot of CS: GO tournaments are not even as big as that. GamesBeat: It’s been interesting to watch all the milestones that Twitch has gone through. One of them is that there’s not just one company doing this anymore. There’s a whole competitive matrix out there now. Google responded with YouTube doing a lot of live video. Facebook has Facebook Live. Microsoft has Mixer. There are more startups as well. It’s gotten to be a very interesting competition. Lin: We’re no strangers to that. It’s a great — I don’t know if it’s validation, because a lot of people are tuning in. Clearly there’s a big demand for this. But everyone has their own thesis. A lot of it is building into cloud gaming. One thing we’ve always wanted to do is make it easy for someone to go from watching someone play a game to playing a game themselves. This is behavior we already see on the platform. What if we made that easier? Right now, in order to do that, there are all these steps you have to go through as a streamer to allow your fans to play with you. With cloud you can make that easy. You don’t even need to download a game. A brand-new game could come out, a streamer could play it, and they could say, “The next four people that click this button get into jump into a game with me.” With cloud gaming, that’s a thing now. That’s a real thing that can happen. Imagine walking up to the playground basketball court and playing a scrimmage with your favorite player. That would be super cool, right? That’s something we’ve always wanted to empower, and now people are starting to realize how big the game industry really is. It’s $120 billion a year. It’s bigger than TV, music, or film. It’s bigger than film and music combined as an industry, and it’s growing faster than most other entertainment industries. People are starting to finally realize that, I think. They’ve known, but now they’re really starting to take it seriously. You’re seeing companies like Google and Microsoft really want to get into the space. It’s not a surprise. It’s a very different type of content compared to what they’re used to. Instead of buying a TV show that’s scripted and produced, you’re going after streamers. You’re looking to develop the relationships with individual streamers. Above: TwitchCon cosplay contest finalists. GamesBeat: We had this big competitive event where Ninja, who rose to 50 million followers on Twitch, recently defected to Microsoft and Mixer. That had to hurt. Lin: Very sad about that, very sad. We’ve known Ninja for 10 years. A lot of people don’t know that he’d been streaming for that long before he really broke. He broke with Fortnite. He used to be a Halo pro player, a very dedicated Halo streamer, but when battle royale came out — H1Z1, PUBG, and then Fortnite — he rode that wave. It was really cool. What Fortnite did, and what Ninja was able to do, was bring games to that next level. That’s something we think about a lot. How do we impact the game industry and make it okay to play? Like I said earlier, it’s a stigmatized hobby, and yet it brings so many people together. It teaches a lot of good social skills. It was important in our lives, and in a lot of our users’ lives. They elevated gaming into the mainstream in a way that a lot of people hadn’t done before. Suddenly it became cool to play games. Rappers, musicians — it’s no longer this hidden-in-the-basement nerdy thing. It’s something people socialize over. We’ve even seen this just in the diversity on our website, and in the game industry in general, over the last couple of years. We went from what used to be a very male audience, about 90 percent, to now 70 percent men and 30 percent women, which is a huge change in a couple of years. People are more open to talking about video games. They’re more open to playing games as a fun thing to do on a weekend. Gaming is cool now. I think esports has helped with that. Esports players are now a sort of rock stars. That’s pretty cool. 1 2 View All Join the GamesBeat community! Enjoy access to special events, private newsletters and more. VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"How Trivia Crack put Argentina on the world's game industry map | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2017/10/07/how-trivia-crack-put-argentina-on-the-worlds-game-industry-map"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages How Trivia Crack put Argentina on the world’s game industry map Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Trivia Crack has more than 300 million users worldwide. Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship. Learn more. Here’s some trivia about the world’s most popular trivia game. Trivia Crack has more than 300 million users. Those players have answered more than 77 billion questions, and they answer more than 2 million questions per minute. One user has answered more than 622,000 questions. This mobile game was built in 2013 by a small group of people at Etermax in Buenos Aires, and it has put Argentina on the game industry map. I talked to Maximo Cavazzani, CEO of Etermax about the tremendous reach of the game across the world and how it is still one of the top-ranked games in the trivia category. And the company has been able to keep Trivia Crack in the top ranks without ever having to do paid advertising. Trivia Crack has been so big for Etermax that the company has 250 employees, including 30 who work full-time on Trivia Crack alone. And it has helped Argentina get a footing in gaming, which is an important industry when it comes to creating the jobs of the future. Earlier this year, SuperData Research estimated there were 350 game companies in Argentina. Here’s an edited transcript of our interview. Event GamesBeat at the Game Awards We invite you to join us in LA for GamesBeat at the Game Awards event this December 7. Reserve your spot now as space is limited! Above: Maximo Cavazzani is CEO and founder of Etermax, maker of Trivia Crack. GamesBeat: How long has Etermax been around? Maximo Cavazzani: We’re eight years old now. The company started in 2009. We started making games around 2011. Trivia Crack was created in 2013. GamesBeat: How many people do you have working for you now? Cavazzani: Right now we’re at 250. Most of them are here in Buenos Aires. We have about 30 people in Uruguay, and now we’re opening a new office in Berlin. That’s still in progress. Until next year there won’t be many people there. GamesBeat: How much of that is still working on Trivia Crack versus new content? Cavazzani: Most of those people, around 50 percent, are doing new stuff. Another 40 percent are either working on old games, popular old games, or technologies that run across games – chat, clans, stuff like that. GamesBeat: Is maintaining Trivia Crack a relatively small effort, or is that still a large team? Cavazzani: Trivia Crack is still a relatively large team, around 30 people. Some of them are working on the iOS and Android clients and others are working on deeper stuff — the content itself, the architectural development, whether questions could be better, how to choose certain questions for certain users. We put a lot of thinking into that to make the game bigger and better. Above: Trivia Crack is No. 1 in 45 countries in the trivia category. GamesBeat: How big has it gotten now as far as downloads? Cavazzani: We have more than 300 million downloads worldwide, with two million questions answered per minute. We were the most downloaded application in the U.S. in 2015. We’ve been number one in almost every country in the world at some point, aside from China and Japan. We’ve won many awards. The top countries as far as downloads are the U.S., Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Turkey, Spain, Canada, Italy, Colombia, and Russia. The game became a TV show here in Argentina, and we’re working on a cartoon based on the Trivia Crack characters. It’s a pretty big franchise, pretty well-positioned. One of the interesting things about Trivia Crack is that we’ve been able to draw all these users without ever paying for user acquisition. It’s all organic, all viral. All the content is made by users as well. GamesBeat: To this day, do you do any advertising? Has that still not become necessarily? Cavazzani: With Trivia Crack now we’re starting to think about advertising. We did a small amount of advertising in San Francisco. Now we’re trying that out in Brazil and it’s working very well. We’re trying to get that minimum amount of people so the game can grow from there. We do advertising, but much less than most other games. Our new games will probably be more focused on getting value from advertising, but games like Pictionary and Trivia Crack are very organic. GamesBeat: About how many games do you have out now? Cavazzani: As far as active games, we have Trivia Crack and Trivia Crack Kingdoms. We have Aworded Crack, which is a Scrabble-like game, and Pictionary. Those are the four strongest games. Then we have some smaller games like Melody Monsters, and now we’re working on four new games that are still in development. Around five active games and four new projects. GamesBeat: When you were starting out, what was that like, working from Buenos Aires? Were you able to catch on to iPhone fever there? Cavazzani: We started as a mobile company. I created the first iPhone stock-trading application in the world, which is now owned by Ameritrade. I wrote that in 2009, and I decided to open the company to continue building new services for the financial sector in the mobile world. But then I realized that while we were doing pretty good stuff, I didn’t want to do any more B-to-B work. We started thinking about consumer products, and that’s how we came up with Aworded Crack, our first game, which became the most downloaded application in Spain in 2012. It was installed in one of every two phones in Spain. We realized we needed to keep on that path, so we kept working. Two years later we released Trivia Crack, which obviously became popular all around the world. Above: Etermax created Pictionary on smartphones. GamesBeat: Was there a point where you realize how big it could become? Did you test it out in any particular country first? Cavazzani: With Trivia Crack we didn’t have the question factory at the start. The game wasn’t very popular at that point. But when we created the question factory we started moving up to number one in all of Latin America. That’s when I realized—the impact was huge. That was beginning in March of 2014. I realized we were very close to having something big worldwide. We first had that feature in Latin America, not the rest of the world, and we found that some small things were wrong. Questions about length were in meters instead of inches. A lot of the sports questions were about soccer. We kept working on the question factory for almost half a year, and by the end of 2014, the app started growing very aggressively in the United States. We hit number one in the App Store in December and stayed there until the beginning of the next March. October 2014 was about when I realized that we were going to have something very huge. GamesBeat: Has Buenos Aires, and Argentina in general, turned out to be a good place to start a mobile game company? Are there many other companies there? Cavazzani: We’re the only big one here. Of course you have some challenges here. Some key positions are difficult to fill. But at the same time, we’re doing something from a place where it’s never been done before. It’s easier to motivate people, to give them the idea that they can do important stuff that’s going to be appreciated in the United States or Europe from Argentina. That allows us to get the best people here in Argentina, which has a very strong education system. We have a lot of engineers to recruit. Also, this is where a lot of the unicorns in Latin America are located. Argentina is much smaller than Brazil, but we have five of the 10 most important unicorns in Latin America. The number one, Mercado Libre, is Argentinian. The technology business is very strong here in Argentina. Of course there are a lot of challenges when it comes to finding people with certain kinds of experience in the industry. We have learned a lot of things ourselves. We have to look at what’s being done at other companies and with time, we’ve become very good at it. It was a challenge when we started, but right now we’re in a good position. GamesBeat: As far as your other games go, do you think Trivia Crack established a brand or style of game that you want to do in the future? Cavazzani: More or less? We believe in both paths. We want to expand the Trivia Crack universe. One of the games we’re doing right now is an extension of that universe. But we also want to try doing other kinds of games, more mid-core games or games that have more depth in what they offer. We feel that what’s important in Trivia Crack is the content. We have literally millions of questions in 30 different languages. If we create games using that content they have something to start with. But we don’t want to be a company that only does one kind of game. We want to explore new possibilities in different genres. Above: Etermax specializes in cartoon-style games. GamesBeat: As far as your competition in the mobile game industry, what do you think of that? It seems to have consolidated quite a bit. We have a group of pretty large companies in the top rankings now. Cavazzani: True. Personally I think it was meant to happen. Any industry follows that same pattern. When you start there are lots of players and then efficiency consolidates them. Companies like Supercell or Machine Zone, or even Zynga right now, they’re the ones that have reached this point in the industry. It’s a good thing. We don’t just have one or two big players dominating the whole industry, but we also don’t have hundreds of companies all trying to do the same thing and nobody rising above. I think we have a good number now as far as balancing competition versus specialization. Some companies are specializing, like King specializing in match-three and bubbles and those kinds of games. We’re more specialized in social, games that work like social networks. Supercell is more into the mid-core segment. Machine Zone is building social games for an adult audience. I believe that in the next few years, companies will become much more efficient. Some new players will appear, like we saw with Pokemon Go. New content and new technologies will come on the scene and change the rules for some of it. It’s a pretty exciting point in history for gaming. GamesBeat: Does it seem like it’s going to be possible to get everyone on the planet playing games? Cavazzani: Probably. We still need to get electricity all around the planet. But as devices become cheaper and the internet becomes more widely available around the world, we don’t really need anything else physical. As long as the internet keeps growing and reaching more people, gaming will follow behind that. So yes, we still have a lot of growth to do. Gaming is always the first industry to take advantage of new technologies and bring that to a broad range of users. We can take chances on new technologies like AR, VR, and more complex implementations of artificial intelligence to bring in more users. If it fails, it fails. It’s still just gaming. That’s very exciting, because the industry is dictating a lot of new developments in technology, or even business models. The freemium business model was popularized by the game industry. Other software industries around the world are going to follow suit to monetize their applications. It’s important for the proliferation of game companies and the shared purpose of reaching more people around the world. GamesBeat: How much more life do you see in Trivia Crack? What do you think you can do at this stage to keep boosting it? Cavazzani: We have a lot of new stuff we want to release, like missions, special editions for the holidays or Halloween, all this new content we can distribute. We have a lot of new social features for the game, like communicating with other players and setting up competitions. But the most important thing is getting better content for the users. In Trivia Crack the most important thing is just answering questions. We want those questions to be relevant for every user. We achieve that basically by getting more content in from users, filtering it better, and trying to understand each user in order to give them the right content. It’s the same concept as always, but doing it better. Just like Facebook – the things you look at on Facebook are content generated by other users. It’s a matter of improving the tools that make that happen. We’re trying to do that with Trivia Crack as well. One of our games, Trivia Crack Kingdoms, extends the universe to different areas of knowledge. Right now we have channels about anything you could imagine, from ballet to technology. You can answer questions just about that. We plan to get those experiences into new games so that people who want to play with just a certain kind of questions can do that. Or if they don’t know what to choose, we’ll try to understand the user and give them better questions, better content each time so they can have a better experience with the game. 1 2 View All Join the GamesBeat community! Enjoy access to special events, private newsletters and more. VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Mobile developer Dynamic Pixels makes leap to PC gaming | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2015/08/26/mobile-developer-dynamic-pixels-makes-leap-to-pc-gaming"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Mobile developer Dynamic Pixels makes leap to PC gaming Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Dynamic Pixels' Hello Neighbor. Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship. Learn more. Here’s a new one: a mobile game developer is now making PC games. Yes, I know — usually that is the other way around. Developer Dynamic Pixels, which is responsible for a number of iPhone and Android apps, is announcing its plans to develop and release a PC game called Hello Neighbour. While Dynamic Pixels has previously worked on action-heavy games or sims on mobile, it is going with a “first-person suspense logic puzzle game with smart artificial intelligence,” according to the studio founder and chief executive Mikhail Minakov. “Many players must have at one time had a feeling that they could do something in a game that its developers had not thought of; go to a spot on the map where they should not have,” Minakov told GamesBeat. “We wanted to create a game with that sort of freedom. To do that, the game must be very flexible and have a relevant reaction to all players’ actions. Only smart A.I. can solve such tasks. This is how Hello, Neighbour! was born.” Event GamesBeat at the Game Awards We invite you to join us in LA for GamesBeat at the Game Awards event this December 7. Reserve your spot now as space is limited! As we noted, this is a bit of a departure for Dynamic Pixels. The company is probably best known for the arcadey sports app Goal Defense and the Tamagotchi-like My Om Nom that turned the main character from developer ZeptoLabs’ Cut The Rope into a virtual pet. For Hello, Neighbour, the company obviously feels a desire to do something ambitious. And that ambition will manifest in the game in an interesting way. “We don’t tell the player where to go and what to do [in Hello]. He or she is the only one to decide what objects to use to reach the only goal — the neighbor’s basement door — and reveal his secret,” continued Minakov. Dynamic Pixels will try to keep players out of that basement by giving the neighbor motivations of his own. “We had to give the neighbor the ability to collect and analyze player’s actions and build up his own tactics to protect the house,” said Minakov. “This is how the key element was created — the ability of the neighbor to study and learn by himself. This forces the player to change tactics constantly, looking for the new ways to reveal the secret, and the neighbor will decide how to stop him.” Hello Neighbor is on Steam Greenlight, and the developer is planning a crowdfunding campaign for next month to help it finish development. GamesBeat's creed when covering the game industry is "where passion meets business." What does this mean? We want to tell you how the news matters to you -- not just as a decision-maker at a game studio, but also as a fan of games. Whether you read our articles, listen to our podcasts, or watch our videos, GamesBeat will help you learn about the industry and enjoy engaging with it. Discover our Briefings. Join the GamesBeat community! Enjoy access to special events, private newsletters and more. VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Epic Games Store goes live with Annapurna, Supergiant, TinyBuild titles | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2018/12/06/epic-games-store-goes-live-with-annapurna-supergiant-tinybuild-games"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Epic Games Store goes live with Annapurna, Supergiant, TinyBuild titles Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Ashen Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship. Learn more. Epic Games announced that the Epic Games Store has gone live with titles from well-known game studios. The first games to go live include Annapurna’s Ashen , Supergiant’s Hades , and TinyBuild’s Hello Neighbor: Hide and Seek. Epic announced on Tuesday that the online store for PC and Mac games will only take a 12 percent cut of revenue for games sold on the store, compared to 30 percent for Valve’s Steam and other major app stores. You could call it the store that Fortnite built , as the popularity of Epic’s battle royale game has generated huge revenues and opened new doors for Epic. Above: Epic Games Store is coming. During this evening’s broadcast of The Game Awards, Epic revealed the first slate of games to be offered through the store: Ashen by A44 and Annapurna Interactive (now available) Darksiders III by Gunfire Games and THQ Nordic (available December 14) Hades by Supergiant Games (now available) Hello Neighbor: Hide and Seek by tinyBuild (now available) Genesis Alpha One by Radiation Blue and Team17 (coming soon) Journey by thatgamecompany and Annapurna Interactive (coming soon) Maneater by Tripwire Interactive (coming soon) Outer Wilds by Mobius Digital and Annapurna Interactive (coming soon) Pathless by Giant Squid Studios (coming soon) Rebel Galaxy Outlaw by Double Damage Games (coming soon) Satisfactory by Coffee Stain Studios (coming soon) Subnautica by Unknown Worlds (available for free from December 14 to December 27) Super Meat Boy by Team Meat (coming soon) Super Meat Boy Forever by Team Meat (coming soon) World War Z by Saber Interactive (coming soon) The Epic Games store will be open to developers using any engine, and announced titles span Unreal, Unity, and internal engines. For games made with Unreal Engine, Epic will cover the engine’s 5 percent royalty on revenue generated through the Epic Games store. Event GamesBeat at the Game Awards We invite you to join us in LA for GamesBeat at the Game Awards event this December 7. Reserve your spot now as space is limited! Epic’s Support-A-Creator program connects developers directly with over 10,000 creators such as YouTubers and Twitch streamers, and rewards creators for bringing added exposure to game developers. Developers who opt to participate set the rate of creator revenue sharing, which creators earn on each attributable sale. Epic will pay the first 5 percent for the first 24 months. GamesBeat's creed when covering the game industry is "where passion meets business." What does this mean? We want to tell you how the news matters to you -- not just as a decision-maker at a game studio, but also as a fan of games. Whether you read our articles, listen to our podcasts, or watch our videos, GamesBeat will help you learn about the industry and enjoy engaging with it. Discover our Briefings. Join the GamesBeat community! Enjoy access to special events, private newsletters and more. VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Will the Patriots' VR training help them win the Super Bowl? | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2017/02/05/will-the-patriots-vr-training-help-them-win-the-super-bowl"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Will the Patriots’ VR training help them win the Super Bowl? Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn In the future, you can cheer for the Patriots or the non-Patriots team in VR! Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship. Learn more. When Super Bowl 51 (pardon me, “LI”) hits TV screens nationwide, Fox viewers will be treated to unique, immersive glimpses from the field, using Intel’s 360 Replay virtual camera. But even more intriguing is what’s happening behind the scenes—more and more teams, including Super Bowl contenders the New England Patriots, are convinced that virtual reality will change the way players prepare for the big game. The Patriots, who face the Atlanta Falcons, are one of six teams now using a VR training system designed by Palo Alto startup StriVR. Others include the Dallas Cowboys, Minnesota Vikings, and Arizona Cardinals. The system, inspired by work done at Stanford’s VR lab, uses 360-degree video to put players—primarily quarterbacks—through their paces, with less physical risk and wear-and-tear than on-field practice, and more interactivity than just watching game video. The Pats were early adopters, becoming the third team to sign up with StriVR back in mid-2015. No word on whether Patriots QB Tom Brady has trained using the tech—though he is featured in a Super Bowl ad for the Intel 360 video system. But another legendary quarterback has cosigned the idea in a big way. At the Consumer Electronics Showcase in January, hall of famer Joe Montana said he wished he’d had VR in his heyday, emphasizing that mental preparation is the largest part of quarterbacking. Event GamesBeat at the Game Awards We invite you to join us in LA for GamesBeat at the Game Awards event this December 7. Reserve your spot now as space is limited! That’s one big reason the StriVR system uses 360-degree video of plays, often shot during team practices, instead of 3D graphics. It’s closer to an immersive film than a fully interactive simulation, but as Fortune reported when we first checked in on StriVR in 2015, research shows that seeing real humans in action helps the brain refine its timing and stay focused. And because football is based on coordinated plays with fixed timing ( at least in theory ), rote repetition helps program players’ muscle memory. There’s an intriguing further possibility here. Intel’s 360 video system allows a ‘virtual’ camera to recreate a first-person perspective by compiling film shot from a variety of outside angles. If teams could get access to the full feed of game cameras, they could give QBs virtual run-throughs of past real games, even if there was nobody on the field wearing a 360 camera. According to Recode , StriVR has expanded its list of NFL clients to six. It has also started building experiences for fans, including a Boston Red Sox VR project, and a hockey ‘goalie simulator’ that lets LA Kings fans practice blocking pucks. Be the #LAKings goalie with our VR Experience at tonight's game outside of Section 105! pic.twitter.com/DUlNFj4U1a — #LAKings (@LAKings) January 19, 2017 Of course, there’s a vague dystopian edge to all this. If quarterbacks are training in VR, and fans are watching the game in immersive 360 video, does the actual action on the field get lost in the virtual shuffle? But the transition of spectatorship to television has already irrevocably changed how we experience sports—if anything, VR is most people’s best chance to reconnect with games that cost hundreds of dollars to attend in person. And the game could benefit immensely if VR training fulfills its promise, giving players more insight and, at least as important, longer careers. For a strange and promising parallel, just look at the world of chess, where computer training has raised the bar for human players. And if you’re really worried about technology creeping into your Sunday ritual, here’s one big reassurance: it’ll be a while before a robot can throw deep on the run. This story originally appeared on Fortune.com. Copyright 2017 GamesBeat's creed when covering the game industry is "where passion meets business." What does this mean? We want to tell you how the news matters to you -- not just as a decision-maker at a game studio, but also as a fan of games. Whether you read our articles, listen to our podcasts, or watch our videos, GamesBeat will help you learn about the industry and enjoy engaging with it. Discover our Briefings. Join the GamesBeat community! Enjoy access to special events, private newsletters and more. VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Walmart will start training employees in virtual reality | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2017/06/03/walmart-will-start-training-employees-in-virtual-reality"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Walmart will start training employees in virtual reality Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Walmart is betting big on virtual reality to help improve its employee training techniques, and it’s turned to a new company to help. TechCrunch is reporting that Walmart plans to install VR training platforms at each of its 200 Academy training centers across the U.S. by the end of the year. Each will have an Oculus Rift and a VR-ready PC to run it on. Using 360 degree video, an estimated 150,000 employees will enter VR and encounter situations that they’ll have to respond to using on-screen prompts. Videos ranging from 30 seconds to fives minutes will include scenarios for customer service, management, and specific encounters for different seasons like dealing with the madness of Black Friday. Walmart partnered with Strivr Labs to create these experiences after one of the company’s executives saw the University of Arkansas football team training using VR. Eventually, the company hopes to be rolling out the platform to its 5,000 retail locations too. Event GamesBeat at the Game Awards We invite you to join us in LA for GamesBeat at the Game Awards event this December 7. Reserve your spot now as space is limited! STRIVR raised some $5 million late last year to develop these exact type of services. The company offers and end-to-end platform that captures and reports performance inside the training offering analytics to allow organizations to make data-driven decisions. It’s football training simulations are also used by Dallas Cowboys, Arizona Cardinals, Minnesota Vikings, Clemson University, Stanford University, the Washington Wizards, Detroit Pistons, and Washington Capitals. It’s also done a PGA Tour 360 video fan experience. “Once the lightbulb comes on or someone is willing to take a chance and go all-in, we’ll see an uptick in customers,” CEO Derek Belch once told UploadVR. Looks like he was right. This story originally appeared on Uploadvr.com. Copyright 2017 VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Walmart buys 17,000 Oculus Go VR headsets to train a million employees | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2018/09/20/walmart-buys-17000-oculus-go-vr-headsets-to-train-a-million-employees"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Walmart buys 17,000 Oculus Go VR headsets to train a million employees Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Walmart VR Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship. Learn more. Thanks to the affordability of Oculus Go standalone virtual reality headsets, Walmart announced today that it will use Go hardware and STRIVR software to train over one million of its U.S. employees. The retailer says it will provide every associate-level employee with VR access to the same training offered at the company’s academy facilities. By year’s end, Walmart will distribute over 17,000 headsets to its U.S. stores: four per SuperCenter and two per Neighborhood Market and discount store. The headsets will reach a million employees across nearly 5,000 locations, and will get used primarily to brief associates on new technology, compliance, and “soft skills” including empathy and customer service. Prior to full-scale deployment, Walmart and STRIVR did a 10-store pilot test of the VR training, enabling associates to see and practice loading the Pickup Tower, a new online order pickup option, before it was even physically installed. STRIVR’s software has also been in use in the company’s academies, where managers and executives are trained. At this point, there are over 45 educational modules for Walmart’s use. Walmart expects that the lessons will reach “those on the floor who interact with customers the most,” an important development given how customer interactions have historically challenged the low-priced retailer. “When you watch a module through the headset, your brain feels like you actually experienced a situation,” explained Walmart senior director of U.S. Academies Andy Trainor. “We’ve also seen that VR training boosts confidence and retention while improving test scores 10 to 15 percent.” Event GamesBeat at the Game Awards We invite you to join us in LA for GamesBeat at the Game Awards event this December 7. Reserve your spot now as space is limited! STRIVR notes that Walmart will be using its platform “to create, manage, and deploy virtual training on all aspects of store operations,” including the ability “to monitor who is using VR and how they have been using it,” as well as “to analyze behavior and common patterns that arise during training.” That might sound somewhat creepy today, but it’s likely to become more common as VR training continues to advance in the workplace — and with so many new users getting their first exposure to VR at work, it bodes well for future growth of both home and business VR solutions. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Talespin raises $15 million for AR/VR enterprise training | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2020/03/03/talespin-raises-15-million-to-bring-ar-vr-to-enterprise-training"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Talespin raises $15 million for AR/VR enterprise training Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Barry is not having a good day in this simulation where he gets fired. Talespin became famous for a virtual reality demo designed to teach managers how to fire a hapless worker named Barry. Now the company has raised $15 million to further develop extended reality (XR) — using technologies such as virtual reality and augmented reality — for enterprise training. Cloud-based learning software provider Cornerstone OnDemand led the funding round and has announced an ongoing partnership with Talespin to deliver the latter’s XR training solutions to customers. HTC also joined the round as a new investor, with participation from existing investors, including Farmers Insurance Exchange. Talespin has figured out that companies are willing to pay for VR and AR training because it’s often cheaper than sending poorly prepared workers into real-life situations with expensive enterprise or industrial equipment. “More and more organizations are using XR solutions to train employees,” said Talespin CEO Kyle Jackson in an email. “With advancements in AI and NLP, we predict this technology will be utilized across the employee life cycle to practice and measure key skills. Soft skills like communication and leadership, in particular, are increasingly needed in workplaces, yet harder to test and train.” Event GamesBeat at the Game Awards We invite you to join us in LA for GamesBeat at the Game Awards event this December 7. Reserve your spot now as space is limited! Companies face massive reskilling challenges as they seek to transform their workforces to keep pace with rapidly changing technology, evolving workforce expectations, and growing talent gaps. Soft skills like leadership and communication are at a premium in an increasingly digital world, and process-oriented jobs are changing faster than people can train for them using traditional methods. Talespin said it addresses these challenges by empowering companies to systematically prepare their workforce for a new, skills-based economy with spatial computing. Talespin’s Runway platform accelerates learning for soft and hard skills and offers advanced skills data to enable purpose-driven career decisions for employees and better talent decisions for organizations. Talespin’s VR learning content will be made available to customers through Cornerstone’s product offerings. And Talespin’s Runway platform will be integrated with Cornerstone’s Learning Management System to power XR training deployment and skills matching analytics at scale. One of Talespin’s early customers, Farmers Insurance, also invested in Talespin after seeing good results training its insurance claims adjusters. Above: Kyle Jackson, CEO of Talespin, at OC6 in 2019. This new funding brings Talespin’s total raised to $20 million. The company will use the money for Runway, as well as to expand research and development and continue growing its VR learning content library. Jackson cofounded Talespin in 2015, and the company currently has 100 employees. Farmers Insurance has been investing in virtual reality and other technologies to gain a competitive advantage and has opened a new training facility in Phoenix, Arizona, equipped with the latest in VR and AR hardware. “We started working with Talespin in 2017 to help develop VR training modules specific to home damage assessments for claims employees,” said Tim Murray, head of claims shared services for Farmers Insurance, in an email. “More recently, Farmers worked with Talespin to develop a soft skills program with an AI-powered virtual human, with a focus on simulating collaboration with third parties to empower claims employees to provide a high level of customer service.” He said this results in a stronger connection to customers and generates more empathy. “This technology offers Farmers employees a safe place to practice their most critical workplace skills and improve as they go, while making the development of those skills measurable and repeatable,” Murray said. “Ultimately, the VR and AR training, especially the new virtual human training modules, are intended to help improve the overall customer experience by focusing on the moments that matter most.” VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. Join the GamesBeat community! Enjoy access to special events, private newsletters and more. VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Amazon says fully automated warehouses are at least 10 years away | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/05/02/amazon-says-fully-automated-warehouses-are-at-least-10-years-away"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Amazon says fully automated warehouses are at least 10 years away Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn An employee collects items ordered by Amazon.com customers through the company's two-hour delivery service Prime Now in a warehouse in San Francisco, December 20, 2017. Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship. Learn more. ( Reuters ) — Amazon.com dismissed the idea of running a fully automated warehouse in the near future, citing the superior cognitive ability of humans and limitations of current technology. Scott Anderson, director of Amazon Robotics Fulfillment, said technology is at least 10 years away from fully automating the processing of a single order picked by a worker inside a warehouse. There is a misperception that Amazon will run fully automated warehouses soon, Anderson said during a tour of Amazon’s Baltimore warehouse for reporters on Tuesday. The technology for a robot to pick a single product from a bin without damaging other products or picking multiple products at the same time in a way that could benefit the e-commerce retailer is years away. VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! Amazon is exploring a variety of technologies to automate the various steps needed to get a package to shoppers, Anderson said. “In the current form, the technology is very limited. The technology is very far from the fully automated workstation that we would need,” Anderson said. The tour came at a time when the company has come under fire from labor groups and other Amazon critics for allegedly poor working conditions in its warehouses and for increasingly automating jobs and reducing its dependence on human labor. The largest online retailer is also not employing robots in its warehouses that handle fresh food, said Derek Jones, global director of environment, health and safety, who oversees Amazon’s fresh food offerings like Amazon Fresh and Amazon Pantry. “Just imagine if you want bananas. I want my bananas to be firm, others like their bananas to be ripe. How do you get a robot to choose that?” he said. Amazon runs 110 warehouses in the United States, 45 sorting centers and about 50 delivery stations. It employs 125,000 full-time warehouse workers in the country. The warehouses that employ robots mostly handle general merchandise, which includes everything from lamps and clothing to kayaks and bikes. The company said it is not changing the level of productivity at its warehouses to catch up with its recent one-day shipping announcement. It is instead making changes to the transportation and delivery process. Last month, Amazon said it plans to deliver packages to members of its loyalty club, Prime, in just one day instead of two. Anderson said Amazon’s current target is four hours from the time a product is ordered to the time it leaves the warehouse, and the company is sticking with that. The e-commerce company did not share details on how the decision to raise its minimum wage to $15 had impacted workforce turnover. However, it said applications for seasonal jobs doubled to 850,000 at the end of October last year from the record number of applications the company received in August 2017, when it held a national job fair. Amazon raised the minimum wage to $15 per hour for U.S. employees in November, giving in to critics of what they said was poor pay and working conditions. ( Reporting by Nandita Bose in Baltimore, Maryland; Editing by Phil Berlowitz and Bill Berkrot ) VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Microsoft Teams struggles as coronavirus pushes millions to work from home | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2020/03/16/microsoft-teams-struggles-as-coronavirus-pushes-millions-to-work-from-home"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Microsoft Teams struggles as coronavirus pushes millions to work from home Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship. Learn more. Microsoft Teams users in Europe are reporting major issues accessing the service today, at a time when millions of people are relying on technology to help them work and study remotely. As people around the world are increasingly working from home in an effort to avert a COVID-19 catastrophe, cloud-based collaboration and communication tools will prove pivotal to companies’ success. So Microsoft Teams’ struggles this morning could not have come at a worse time. As Europe’s newly enlarged remote workforce logged on this morning, users from across the continent turned to Twitter to complain that all was not well inside Microsoft Teams. The company itself confirmed that it was investigating “messaging-related functionality problems,” but reports suggest many users have also encountered problems creating new teams, modifying members, recording meetings, screen-sharing, and more. We're investigating messaging-related functionality problems within Microsoft Teams. Please refer to TM206544 in your admin center for further details. ^JP — Microsoft 365 Status (@MSFT365Status) March 16, 2020 VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! Microsoft originally reported that the issue had been fixed, with a Microsoft spokesperson telling VentureBeat: “We’ve resolved an issue that may have impacted a subset of customers in Europe.” However, the company later confirmed that the issues are still ongoing as the U.S. workforce wakens. “We’ve taken steps to address an issue that a subset of our customers may have experienced,” the spokesperson later said. “Our engineering teams continue to actively monitor performance and usage trends.” We've received reports that impact associated with TM206544 is ongoing. We’re investigating the issue and will be providing updates under TM206556 within your admin center. — Microsoft 365 Status (@MSFT365Status) March 16, 2020 While the underlying issue is likely a vast increase in the number of people using Microsoft Teams to work from home, it’s undoubtedly compounded by the fact that many schools are embracing distance learning during the COVID-19 crisis. Last week, Microsoft announced an enhanced version of the free Microsoft Teams product — removing restrictions to the number of people who can join a team and offering additional features usually reserved for paid users. The company also revealed that it was offering a six-month free trial for the premium tier of Microsoft Teams. Microsoft Teams passed 20 million daily users back in November, and alongside rivals like Slack it’s emerging as a crucial tool for those who work from home and for increasingly distributed workforces, where team members may be spread across offices and locations. Recent figures suggest more than two-thirds of the global workforce already work remotely at least one day a week, but with COVID-19 wreaking havoc around the world, many more people will be working from home for at least the next couple of months. Some have argued that this could lead to a permanent shift toward remote working, but the tools and technologies to enable this would need to prove their worth — which is why all eyes will be on Microsoft Teams, Google’s G Suite , Slack, Zoom , and the rest in the coming months. ** This post has been refreshed with additional updates from Microsoft. Microsoft confirmed on March 17, 2020, that the issue was resolved, and had been caused by a “…caching issue with a component of our infrastructure.” VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Red Dead Redemption 2 approaches 35 million copies sold | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2020/01/28/red-dead-redemption-2-approaches-35-million-copies-sold"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Red Dead Redemption 2 approaches 35 million copies sold Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn You like games about cowboys, son? Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship. Learn more. Rockstar Games had an OK decade, I guess. At least, for a studio that only had a handful of major releases. But two of those games, Grand Theft Auto V and Red Dead Redemption 2 , are among the best-selling games over the last 10 years. And now, Rockstar is highlighting some of those successes and noting that its two marquee games combined to ship 150 million units worldwide. That means that Red Dead Redemption II is approaching 35 million copies shipped since its 2018 debut. As of November, Grand Theft Auto V had surpassed 115 million copies shipped, according to parent publisher Take-Two Interactive. And, at that time, GTA V was still selling an average of 1 million copies per month. And that doesn’t count any boost it would get from the holidays. So GTA V probably accounts for slightly more than 115 million of that 150 million total. Still, this indicates strong ongoing sales for Red Dead Redemption 2. The cowboy simulator was at 25 million copies sold as of August. And while it only sold about 1 million copies over the slow summer months, it likely saw a major boost over the holidays. Especially considering its PC debut in November. Red Dead Redemption 2 and Grand Theft Auto V both continue to grow their online audiences While both of Rockstar’s premier releases of the 2010s were top-sellers as full-game purchases, they are also huge contributors to to Take-Two Interactive’s digital revenues. And GTA Online and Red Dead online are both seeing growth in terms of their player engagement. Event GamesBeat at the Game Awards We invite you to join us in LA for GamesBeat at the Game Awards event this December 7. Reserve your spot now as space is limited! GTA Online set a record for number of players in July when it launched its Diamond Casino & Resort update. It then set a new player-number record in December and for fourth quarter when it released the Diamond Casino Heist patch. That helped Take-Two Interactive’s microtransaction revenue grow 32% year-over-year during its fiscal Q2. Red Dead Online, while smaller than GTA Online, is beginning to see a similar trajectory. Rockstar launched the Moonshiners update for the multiplayer mode in December. That led to a new high mark in number of players. The game then surpassed that peak again in January. To keep that momentum going through 2020, Rockstar is planning in-game rewards for players who boot up the online games. You can get $1 million GTA bucks by logging in before February 5. You can then get another million crime dollars by logging in again between February 6 and February 12. In Red Dead, you can get packs of goodies for showing up to play. Here’s how Rockstar puts it: “Red Dead Online players will receive a series of gifts including free access to select roles, special role item giveaways and more, including: The Gunslinger’s Cache: Play between January 28 and February 3 to get a Free Schofield Revolver, a Reward for 1 Free Varmint Rifle and The Devastating Ammo Bundle The Bounty Hunter’s Kit: Play between February 4 and February 10 to get a Reward for a Free Bounty Hunter license, 25 x Bolas, and a 25 x Tracking Arrows.” These bonuses can help keep the game populated in the gaps between major updates. And they should help keep dedicated fans happy while bringing back lapsed players. GamesBeat's creed when covering the game industry is "where passion meets business." What does this mean? We want to tell you how the news matters to you -- not just as a decision-maker at a game studio, but also as a fan of games. Whether you read our articles, listen to our podcasts, or watch our videos, GamesBeat will help you learn about the industry and enjoy engaging with it. Discover our Briefings. Join the GamesBeat community! Enjoy access to special events, private newsletters and more. VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Rockstar cofounder Dan Houser is leaving the Grand Theft Auto studio | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2020/02/04/rockstar-cofounder-dan-houser-is-leaving-the-grand-theft-auto-studio"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Rockstar cofounder Dan Houser is leaving the Grand Theft Auto studio Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Dan Houser (center) accepts an award at DICE. Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship. Learn more. Rockstar Games is losing one of its cofounders. Dan Houser, who started the studio with his brother, Sam, is leaving. This is according to a U.S. Securities Exchange Commission filing. Rockstar parent company Take-Two Interactive alerted investors that Dan Houser will exit the Grand Theft Auto V and Red Dead Redemption II developer March 11. Here is the full statement, which Take-Two included with form 8-K to the SEC : “After an extended break beginning in the spring of 2019, Dan Houser, Vice President, Creative at Rockstar Games, will be leaving the company. Dan Houser’s last day will be March 11, 2020. We are extremely grateful for his contributions. Rockstar Games has built some of the most critically acclaimed and commercially successful game worlds, a global community of passionate fans and an incredibly talented team, which remains focused on current and future projects.” What does this mean for Rockstar Games? Dan is one of the famous Houser brothers, who cofounded Rockstar Games and oversaw the creative aspects of the Grand Theft Auto series. Dan acted a manager at Rockstar as well as a writer and producer. His writing credits include Bully, Red Dead Redemption, and Max Payne 3. He was also a significant part of the writing team on Red Dead Redemption 2. I’ve reached out to Rockstar Games and Take-Two Interactive for more about Dan Houser’s departure. Neither company has returned my requests. I’ll update this story if that changes. Event GamesBeat at the Game Awards We invite you to join us in LA for GamesBeat at the Game Awards event this December 7. Reserve your spot now as space is limited! Take-Two noted that he has been on break since spring 2019, which follows the period where Rockstar shipped Red Dead Redemption 2 and completed its core patches. The studio is always working on more content for Red Dead Online and GTA Online. But it also likely has future games in the works. But if a Grand Theft Auto VI is going to ship, it won’t be under Dan Houser. Sam Houser, however, still remains. And Rockstar told investment firm Barron’s that Sam’s role is “unchanged.” Take-Two reports its Q3 2020 earnings on Thursday. GamesBeat's creed when covering the game industry is "where passion meets business." What does this mean? We want to tell you how the news matters to you -- not just as a decision-maker at a game studio, but also as a fan of games. Whether you read our articles, listen to our podcasts, or watch our videos, GamesBeat will help you learn about the industry and enjoy engaging with it. Discover our Briefings. Join the GamesBeat community! Enjoy access to special events, private newsletters and more. VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"La French Tech: 6 Paris startups to watch | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2016/06/13/la-french-tech-here-are-six-paris-startups-to-watch"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages La French Tech: 6 Paris startups to watch Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Sacha Lazimi, cofounder of Yellow, pitches journalists gathered at Paris' NUMA startup accelerator. Disclosure: Business France, an agency of the French government that promotes the country’s economy, organized a tour of Paris’ startup community and paid for my travel and hotel. During a week I spent trucking around the Paris ecosystem with a gaggle of international journalists, we were pitched by at least 30 startups who are doing everything from building some interesting apps to trying to reimagine the architecture of data centers. It would be impossible to sort through all of them. But here are six that have really stuck with me in the weeks since that trip: Snips This is one of Paris’ most buzzed-about startups, but one that is still flying below the global radar. Snips has raised about $6.3 million and has just launched its first product: an artificial intelligence app for the iPhone. And it’s cofounded by a trio of well-regarded A.I. programmers with PhDs. At the moment, the usage is basic. You connect your apps on your iPhone to Snips, and it begins to read everything. And I mean everything. The goal is to let it start learning everything about you so that over time it becomes a hyper-smart personal assistant. The twist is that to encourage you to give it as much info as you can, Snips takes a strong approach to privacy by doing all the computing on your phone. Unlike, say, many Google apps, the data is not sent and stored on some far-off server for the heaving computing. The founders say this is a first step, and the app just went live a few weeks ago. The company is reportedly close to raising another round of financing. But it does face some tough competition. The launch of the app came just as Google was unveiling a series of chat and personalized services with A.I. baked in. Still, the company is betting that its approach to privacy and its long-term vision will give it an edge. And my instinct, after having met the team and played with the app a bit, is that I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see Apple sniffing around the company, with A.I. becoming a bigger part of how smartphones work in the near future. Above: Snips headquarters in Paris. “A” by Akoustic Arts This little company, Akoustic Arts , is developing a speaker that is uni-directional: That is, you can only hear the sound when it’s pointed directly at you. As we heard in a live demo, when the speaker is turned even slightly away from you, the sound completely vanishes. It’s currently being developed at Usine IO, a kind of hardware lab in Paris. And the founders are running a campaign on Indiegogo, though they have already well exceeded their goal. The hope is that the speaker could be of interest in places like museums, for guided tours; airplanes, for when you’re watching a movie (goodbye headphones!); or retail spaces. The company also plans to go after the consumer market with a version that you can use with your TV, so one person on the couch can listen to a movie with the sound up while a person sitting next to them is quietly reading a book. Above: The “A,” a directional speaker. Yellow This startup was part of the most recent class of companies working out of Paris’ NUMA accelerator program. Y ellow is a virtual flirting app built on top of Snapchat. The idea is to allow you to find people to flirt with who you never intend to meet in real life. Could be fun. Could be creepy. We’ll see. But for the moment, the app, which quietly launched last October on iOS and Android, has snagged 400,000 sign-ups, which has translated into 117,000 monthly active users. Most importantly, the company says that about 60 percent of users continue to use the app after one month, and the app is getting about 10 million swipes per day. I’m not a Snapchat user. But this seems to hint at the kind of ecosystem of apps that could be coming to leverage Snapchat’s rapid growth. Energy Square The engineers behind this project, also recent participants in the NUMA accelerator, have designed a new breed of wireless charger that, unlike most others, doesn’t use induction. That means it doesn’t use electromagnetic waves, and multiple devices can be charged at one time. All you have to do is place a sticker on the back of a gadget and plop it on the Energy Square. And, in the demo we saw, the charging rate was pretty rapid. The founders claim it is several times faster than most pokey wireless charging solutions. The basic cost is expected to be around $77, and the hope is to start shipping later this year. https://youtu.be/0L8eHBiJmM8 Qarnot Computing This is one of those ideas that is either completely insane or could possibly change the world. Okay, maybe not change the world. But at least have a pretty major impact. Qarnot Computing wants to reinvent the concept of the data center by building a distributed network of servers around the world, with a series of algorithms and software to manage the computing loads between them for customers using cloud services. But here’s the twist: Qarnot wants to house those servers in heating units and install them in apartments, homes, and offices to replace the central heating system. The problem with the current data center model is that servers are bunched in a single facility, requiring massive amounts of cooling and gobbling up a growing share of the world’s energy use. Qarnot hopes to end that upward spiral by making use of the heat generated and eliminating the need for massive cooling. The company is still figuring out things like how energy rebates would work, but between cost savings and rebates, your overall heating bill would theoretically drop to zero if you placed one of these in your home or office. Of course, this idea presents massive logistical issues, like how to install enough units to be effective and how to install the infrastructure (wires, etc.) that goes along with it. And then the company needs to have enough units distributed around the world to account for different use patterns across the seasons. Still, it’s an intriguing idea. And one that would seem to have enormous potential — if they can pull it off. Younited Credit This lending platform has already raised $55 million and, according to its founders, is looking to raise another $100 million in the next year or so. It basically wants to be the LendingClub of Europe. This goal is both ambitious and a bit problematic, given the controversy that hit the latter recently. Still, in a country and a continent where the financial industries have been slow to adapt, Younited is racing ahead pretty quickly with its crowdsourced lending model. What happens over the next year could determine whether it becomes France’s next unicorn. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"We need to address streaming's massive carbon footprint | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2020/02/22/we-need-to-address-streamings-massive-carbon-footprint"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Guest We need to address streaming’s massive carbon footprint Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Are you ready to bring more awareness to your brand? Consider becoming a sponsor for The AI Impact Tour. Learn more about the opportunities here. While many of our lives increasingly play out publicly online, very few of us think about the massive environmental impact of all the data coursing through our devices. The issue goes much deeper than browsing, email, and social media. According to a new report released by Netflix, the platform’s “global energy consumption increased by 84% in 2019 to a total of 451,000 megawatt hours; enough to power 40,000 average US homes for a year.” It’s time for society to confront the fact that we’re burning through huge amounts of energy to stream television and movies , game online, hold video conferences, and power voice assistants like Alexa or Siri – and to support the technology infrastructure behind those services. Because music and on-demand experiences magically appear on our devices, we almost never think about the energy that makes it possible — or about the emissions, smog, thermal pollution, and other side effects stemming from that energy consumption. The unseen links are the data centers that service our streaming habits. A hard look at the center(s) of the issue Netflix mainlines entertainment to a growing number of binge-watching subscribers every week – adding 8.33 million in Q4 2019 alone. Apple debuted its content channel last fall, and Disney has now rolled out its own streaming service to challenge the others head-on. Add one billion hours a day of YouTube. Our video chats, music playlists, and online games. Virtual assistants, smart thermostats, and global positioning systems. Road sensors, surveillance cameras, and cryptocurrencies. And, soon, 5G connectivity, remote surgeries, and autonomous transportation. They all run on data flowing through power-hungry data centers. Data centers are the Internet’s back office. They’re the invisible engines that power everything we do online. Eight million of them run full tilt 24/7 to meet our insatiable, global demand. These are massive complexes lined with row after row of servers, and much of the energy these farms use goes toward cooling these processing machines. To temper all that extra heat, companies build them in colder regions – in countries like Iceland, Ireland, Finland , and Canada. Even so, they use more than 200 terawatt hours a year worldwide, the equivalent of Australia’s annual electricity consumption. For a country like Ireland, that means devoting one-third of all national electricity to data-center operations by 2027. The developed world’s irreversible and seemingly insatiable streaming appetite means these numbers are still tracking upward. In fact, global data transfer and the infrastructure needed to support it has surpassed the aerospace industry (2.5% of global totals) in terms of carbon emissions (nearly 4% of global totals). Which begs the question: What happens as developing countries begin catching up? According to research by Huawei’s Anders Andrae, data centers are on track to represent 8% of global electricity demand by 2030 – a staggering proportion if the analysis proves true. One obvious solution is to improve data center energy efficiency. Meanwhile, there’s a shift among some owners of these facilities toward employing technologies that will allow them to dramatically reduce electricity use. Heavy emissions, light moves toward sustainability Companies that run data centers are trending towards tapping renewables to lessen their environmental impact. Google recently announced a string of wind and solar power deals. Meanwhile, Amazon pledged to measure its emissions and run completely on renewables by 2030. Facebook, for its part, hopes to achieve the same goal within a year. Microsoft has said it aims to be carbon negative by 2030. But unfortunately, there’s currently only so much green electricity to go around. Unless data centers start building their own renewable supply. And while the efficiency gains are critical, they constitute a rearguard battle against our increasing demand. Traffic to and from data centers is growing exponentially, surpassing a trillion gigabytes in 2017, and efficient new technologies are just going to allow us to keep streaming more data. For instance, 5G networking may be more efficient than what it’s replacing, but it will almost certainly enable technologies that will use enormous amounts of data. The data streamed by an autonomous car, for instance, would completely fill an average laptop’s 240GB hard drive in less than a minute. Actions speak louder than streaming As streaming becomes mainstream, perhaps new technologies will come about that save us from our own data use. Maybe the efficiencies and abatements will eventually grow to match our consumption. But for the moment, we can’t fix this problem until we recognize it – and begin to act to reduce the impact. According to Cisco , 60% of the world’s population will be online, with video making up more than 80% of all internet traffic, by 2022. A recent study from Electronic Entertainment Design and Research found that the emissions created by gaming in the U.S. is roughly equivalent to introducing five million additional cars on the road. The environmental implications span every type of streaming and online activity – and the impact is immediate. There are steps individuals can take today to make a difference in the near future as we speed toward 2030, a year singled out by the United Nations as a global deadline for climate action. According to Harvard Law School’s resident energy manager, turning down the screen brightness on devices used for streaming from 100% to 70% can reduce total energy consumption by 20%. Online gamers and people who stream other forms of entertainment from their devices, like the Roku TV or an iPhone, should consider turning off systems completely when not in use. People who plan to rewatch the content they stream should consider downloading or finding other ways to move the content offline during viewing experiences. Companies building technologies, streaming content, and delivering hardware to consumers need to be held accountable for taking steps to reduce – or, at the very least, offset – the environmental damage their products and services inflict. There are steps they can take that won’t break the bank or impede innovation. For instance, YouTube could reduce its annual carbon footprint by the equivalent of about 300,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide if it only sent sound to users who are actively watching programming (versus having a web tab or dormant mobile application open). And more companies could sign on to industry-wide initiatives like the UN’s Playing for the Planet pledge that aims to cut “gaming-related carbon emissions by at least 30 million tons by 2030.” While society frets about balancing fossil fuels with green energy and we talk loudly about lowering humanity’s carbon footprint, a tangible piece of the puzzle is flashing right before us on our devices and screens. At some point, we need to ask ourselves how much music we need to download, how many shows we need to stream, how many services we need, and how many devices we need to connect. Essentially, we need to quantify – and stay accountable for monitoring – how much data we really need to live, work and play. Jane Kearns is the Vice President of Growth Services at MaRS Discovery District , based in Toronto. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"6D.ai creates platform for a 3D map of the world | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/08/27/6d-ai-creates-platform-for-a-3d-map-of-the-world"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages 6D.ai creates platform for a 3D map of the world Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship. Learn more. 6D.ai aims to build a 3D map of the world using only smartphone cameras. Today, the company announced it is working with Qualcomm Technologies to provide technology for Qualcomm’s Snapdragon mobile processing platform. San Francisco-based 6D.ai will provide spatial understanding for Snapdragon-powered XR head-mounted displays (HMDs) and XR viewers that are designed to connect to smartphones based on the Qualcomm Snapdragon Mobile Platform. 6D.ai also released its Android solution to round out its cross-platform offerings, which already include iOS. “The 3D model of the world is the next platform all apps will run on,” said 6D.ai CEO Matt Miesnieks in a statement. “We are seeing this happen today with businesses of all sizes across a variety of industries looking to build spatially aware applications that go beyond AR to scanning, location-based services, and in the future, drones and robotics. Today’s rollout of our business model and our cooperation with Qualcomm Technologies are the first of many steps we are taking toward building this 3D map of the world.” Event GamesBeat at the Game Awards We invite you to join us in LA for GamesBeat at the Game Awards event this December 7. Reserve your spot now as space is limited! Above: 6D.ai founders Matt Miesnieks (left) and Victor Prisacariu. Qualcomm Technologies and 6D.ai will work together to optimize the 6D.ai reality platform for Snapdragon-powered XR devices, taking advantage of advanced computer vision and AI processing to enable developers and device makers to create fully immerse apps with life-like XR experiences that blur the line between real and virtual worlds. “XR, powered by AI and 5G, has the potential to define the next generation of immersive mobile computing,” said Hugo Swart, senior director of product management and head of XR at Qualcomm Technologies, in a statement. “6D.ai is strengthening today’s experiences by building world maps to help lay the foundation for a future where XR devices fully understand the real world, to enable developers creating next-generation applications that can recognize, interpret, and interact with the world we live in.” Additionally, 6D.ai announced the beta rollout of its Android solution. These cross-platform experiences allow users of apps built on 6D to share the same virtual experience, accurately and persistently, while viewing it from different devices. 6D.ai said that any app that ships on the company’s platform by December 31 will enjoy free use of its SDK for three years. Thousands of developers are already testing and building apps that realistically interact with the world on 6D.ai’s platform, including Autodesk, Nexus Studios, and Accenture. Founded in November 2017, 6D.ai is a seed-stage startup that was spun out of Oxford University’s world-renowned Active Vision Lab. 6D.ai currently has 16 employees. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Niantic is updating Pokémon Go and other games as coronavirus keeps us inside | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2020/03/30/niantic-is-updating-pokemon-go-and-other-games-as-coronavirus-keeps-us-inside"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Niantic is updating Pokémon Go and other games as coronavirus keeps us inside Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Pokémon Go will register your indoor activity now. Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship. Learn more. Niantic said it’s updating its games like Pokémon Go , Harry Potter: Wizards Unite , and Ingress so that they can record your indoor activity and link that to gameplay goals. CEO John Hanke said in a blog post today that Niantic acknowledges the “this time of unprecedented challenge due to the COVID-19 pandemic” and the “increased physical and mental strain” it is causing. Niantic’s makes games with the idea of getting people outside for exercise and to explore the world, with the ultimate goal of helping people connect with others. The games have a global community of hundreds of millions of people. “We have always believed that our games can include elements of indoor play that complement the outdoor, exercise and explore DNA of what we build,” Hanke said. “Now is the time for us to prioritize this work, with the key challenge of making playing indoors as exciting and innovative as our outdoor gameplay.” Event GamesBeat at the Game Awards We invite you to join us in LA for GamesBeat at the Game Awards event this December 7. Reserve your spot now as space is limited! Hanke said the company is adding to its product roadmap so it can enable more ways to play inside and around the home in the coming days and weeks. Above: Harry Potter: Wizards Unite. While it’s impossible to predict when and how the situation with COVID-19 will evolve globally, he said Niantic will make the following changes to games and live events: Exercise : You can track your steps indoor with Adventure Sync so activities like cleaning your house and running on a treadmill count toward game achievements. Niantic will make improvements to Adventure Sync so it works even better with indoor movement and activities. Social : Niantic is enhancing the in-game virtual social features to enable players to stay in touch when they can’t meet in real life. You’ll soon be able to team up with friends and take on Raid Battles together in Pokémon Go from the comfort of home. Explore : The company is also looking into how to help players virtually visit and share memories about their favorite real-world places, until they can once again visit them in person. Live Events : The company is re-imagining what it means to participate in a Niantic live event this summer, and putting its creative energy towards bringing the excitement directly to your home. That means it is working on an entirely new way to enjoy Pokémon Go Fest. More details coming soon. Niantic has already made a number of changes to adapt to the current environment where group play is no longer possible and outdoor activity may be restricted. “We just launched a new form of gameplay in Pokémon Go called Go Battle League that you can play from anywhere in the world, including at home,” Hanke said. “We reduced the walking requirements for Go Battle League from 3 km to zero and introduced deeply discounted Incense and Poké Balls so people can catch Pokémon without traveling far. Gifts have more useful content and we increased storage so you can send and receive more gifts.” For Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, Niantic has increased the amount of content that’s near you on the map so players should see Spell Energy, more iconic Harry Potter content, and rare potions ingredients that help you make progress. Niantic has also made potion tuning adjustments so players can have Foundables spawn directly at their house. Among other changes, gifts have also been adjusted to include more helpful resources and we increased the amount of gifts that players can open each day. And Ingress Portals are now tuned to encourage at-home play and Niantic has reduced the need to interact with multiple Portals. Niantic has increased the number of Portal hacks before burnout, reduced cooldown period for Portals, and enabled the deployment of two L7 and L8 Resonators per Portal. In addition, Portal recharge has been added as a new means for daily credit towards the Sojourner Medal. In areas where it is permitted by local authorities, outdoor walks, practiced with proper social distancing, will continue to be a great way to contribute to physical and mental well being and you’ll still be able to play our games while you do that. The changes we are making offer an alternative when that’s not possible. “We look forward to the day when we can return to the familiar places we dream about and once again safely play together with family and friends. When the world is ready for that, we’ll be ready too,” Hanke said. GamesBeat's creed when covering the game industry is "where passion meets business." What does this mean? We want to tell you how the news matters to you -- not just as a decision-maker at a game studio, but also as a fan of games. Whether you read our articles, listen to our podcasts, or watch our videos, GamesBeat will help you learn about the industry and enjoy engaging with it. Discover our Briefings. Join the GamesBeat community! Enjoy access to special events, private newsletters and more. VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Microsoft says 5G's killer app is always-connected PCs -- it's wrong | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/03/11/microsoft-says-5gs-killer-app-is-always-connected-pcs-its-wrong"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Opinion Microsoft says 5G’s killer app is always-connected PCs — it’s wrong Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Microsoft has been working with Qualcomm on always connected PCs with Snapdragon's 8cx chips. Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship. Learn more. Microsoft isn’t great at picking new technologies. From Windows Mobile , Tablet PC , and Zune to Windows Phone , HoloLens , and Band , the company often comes close to identifying big tech trends, but rarely hits the nail right on the head. As the world eagerly awaits the first 5G smartphones , Microsoft is betting that something else will be 5G’s killer app: not 3D VR streaming, autonomous vehicles, next-generation games, or interactive high-definition video. Instead, Microsoft’s worldwide director of industry technology strategy Rick Lievano told Light Reading that: The killer app for 5G is simple connectivity — pervasive and always-on. … When you click that machine on, connectivity should be present, whether you’re at home, or in the office, or at your local Starbucks. You shouldn’t have to fumble along and find the WiFi hotspot. It should be there… We call this vision “always connected.” I’ve spent a lot of time focusing on 5G news , so when I say that “always connected PCs” are perhaps the least compelling 5G killer app I’ve heard, I’m working with a fairly long list. Wikipedia says a killer app is a feature so necessary or desirable that it proves the value of a new technology. Having covered killer apps across multiple platforms spanning many years, I’ll note that a given technology (say, a new graphics card or game console) can and probably should have more than one killer app — the more killer apps you have for a new technology, the better it tends to sell. So let’s be more lenient and think of “killer app” as any selling point that individually leads a million or more previously disinterested people to adopt 5G over 4G. Even at that lower threshold, Microsoft’s wrong about “always connected” being a killer app for 5G. Above: Gameloft’s Asphalt 9 running on the Snapdragon 8cx. First, “always connected” PCs don’t need 5G — the technology is equally (if not more) achievable with 4G, and Microsoft knows this. Last December, Qualcomm introduced the Snapdragon 8cx specifically to power “always on” Windows laptops, and Microsoft certified the chip for both Windows 10 Enterprise and Microsoft 365. The 8cx platform is built with the latest 4G LTE technology to deliver 2Gbps peak speeds, and doesn’t integrate 5G; that requires a separate Snapdragon X55 modem , which would drain a laptop’s battery faster. By definition, a persistent connection can’t be a killer app for 5G if it’s also available in 4G. If there’s some way that this feature will be hugely better in 5G than 4G, such as “in the future, dramatically lower power drain,” it’s yet to be either practical or announced for an actual always-connected PC. Second, Microsoft’s Lievano suggests the feature will matter because a single wireless connection will enable a PC to connect everywhere, implying that 5G will both subsume and extend beyond current Wi-Fi networks. Instead of connecting to a home Wi-Fi network, an office Wi-Fi network, and a Starbucks Wi-Fi network with separate passwords, the device will maintain a persistent cellular connection to a 5G network and work wherever you may be. The problem: Homes, schools, and businesses already have working, entirely usable Wi-Fi networks set up, and virtually every 5G consumer device will have Wi-Fi built in, as well. Going forward, Lievano believes that “enterprises will invest in 5G rather than building out and maintaining Wi-Fi networks,” a statement that’s at best unproven, and at worst largely incorrect. There’s no doubt that 5G will deliver awesome speeds and latency , but it’s expensive to extend indoors, and there’s a question of whether businesses will see real benefits in bringing 5G signals to computers rather than just upgrading to the latest (backward-compatible) Wi-Fi standard. Given the choice between leveraging existing Wi-Fi networks or setting up new private 5G networks with indoor 5G repeaters , many businesses will choose Wi-Fi. Above: Consumers have had “always on” and “always connected” devices for years — in part thanks to cellular tethering. Third, “always connected” devices just aren’t exciting to regular people anymore. Thanks to iPhones, iPads, Macs, and their best competitors, users now expect devices to wake instantly from sleep and always stay up to date, performing background tasks even when their screens are off. This might be less common in Microsoft’s own devices than Apple products, but it’s been a trend for a decade, and it’s certainly not waiting on 5G for any big leap forward. I almost laugh at the idea of an “always connected” PC being a “killer app” because I feel like my own devices have been more or less always connected for years. When I’m at home, they’re connected to my fast home network, and when I’m out, I can pretty much always share a wireless hotspot connection if I can’t find Wi-Fi. The idea of not having to hunt for a hotspot at Starbucks isn’t a 5G feature — and isn’t the Wi-Fi at Starbucks already free? At most, what Lievano is excited about is the concept of cellular tethering, and at worst, it’s not having to ask a barista for a Wi-Fi password. If the 5G era takes any steps forward for “always connected” devices, it will come only due to two factors, neither of which is specific to 5G: a greater number of cellular-equipped products, and the broader availability of unlimited cellular data service. It’s already clear from Qualcomm, Intel, Samsung, and others that the eventual goal is to get 5G modems into everything from PCs and phones to industrial and agricultural tools, city and highway infrastructures, wearables, and vehicles. Over time, the hope is that cellular carriers will make 5G service affordable enough to connect virtually everything to their networks. The revolution won’t be in PCs, but in sensors and other tiny internet of things (IoT) devices that previously weren’t cellular-connected at all. Notably, neither carriers nor chipmakers are even waiting on 5G networks to launch these IoT devices — they’re launching with low-powered 4G chips instead. Since the goal is to connect as much as possible going forward, it’s inevitable that there will eventually be more 5G modems in laptops than 4G modems, and likely that more people will have unlimited 5G service to connect multiple devices than 4G service to use with one or two devices per person. But persistent connectivity won’t really be a “killer app” for 5G unless it becomes dramatically more compelling than the same feature is today, when many people are already experiencing it or something very close on 4G devices. And Microsoft’s going to need to implement 5G in more than just computers to demonstrate that it has a meaningful role to play in the future of the mobile industry. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"AT&T: Our 5G network is ready for 2880x1600 VR and 5ms latency games | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/04/01/att-our-5g-network-is-ready-for-2880x1600-vr-and-5ms-latency-games"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages AT&T: Our 5G network is ready for 2880×1600 VR and 5ms latency games Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn AT&T’s 5G network may have launched last year, but as of now, all it’s offering potential customers is a chunky 5G hotspot — a situation it’s rapidly preparing to change. In partnership with 5G networking device maker Ericsson, AT&T announced today that it has developed new 5G and edge streaming solutions for virtual reality and games in collaboration with some key players, including HTC, Nvidia, PlayGiga and Arvizio. If you’re unfamiliar with edge computing, the concept is easy to grasp. Traditionally, cloud servers are located far from the customers who use them, but edge computing moves the servers closer to users, cutting server response times, also known as latency. High-bandwidth 5G networks will let edge servers send huge amounts of data — including high-definition 4K and VR videos — to users with much lower latencies than ever before. Perhaps the most exciting of the AT&T projects was a collaboration with HTC, enabling a wireless Vive Focus VR headset to receive 5G transmissions based on a remote computer’s rendering of 75 frame-per-second, 2880-by-1600 resolution video. Simple math would suggest the rendering requires up to 345 million pixels per second. AT&T says that edge computing and 5G enabled this test to stream smoothly, at the latency VR headset users require. Though it’s unclear what the actual delivered resolution was, the Vive Focus is capable of natively displaying content at a 2880-by-1600 resolution. AT&T says that HTC’s demo “samples” content rendered by the host computer, so the actual display resolution could well vary. Event GamesBeat at the Game Awards We invite you to join us in LA for GamesBeat at the Game Awards event this December 7. Reserve your spot now as space is limited! In another partnership, AT&T worked with Nvidia and its CloudVR software to serve an interactive VR game over 5G from an RTX server — a cloud computer with 40 Nvidia GPUs — with only 5 milliseconds of network delay. That’s one-sixth or less of the latency in traditional VR headsets and 4G connections , which becomes even more impressive when you consider the rendering quality of the cloud servers. Rather than being bound by whatever mobile chipset or gigantic PC you can afford to own, the cloud renderer can be powerful by enterprise standards. Separate projects with Arvizio and PlayGiga looked at 5G’s applications for AR/XR and gaming as a service. Arvizio’s proof of concept demonstrates how complex digital 3D models can be integrated into industrial mixed reality environments using 5G, while PlayGiga is working to show how traditional games can be streamed over 5G as a service using cloud servers. It’s worth noting that AT&T is finally beginning to make claims about its 5G network’s performance potential. More than three months after launching commercial services, the company said late last week that it was “the first carrier in the U.S. to reach mobile 5G speeds surpassing 1 gigabit per second.” The number matches the upper promise made by Verizon’s home 5G network last October , and was achieved using the company’s aforementioned 5G hotspot. Phones and other 5G-capable devices for AT&T’s network are expected to follow later this year. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. Join the GamesBeat community! Enjoy access to special events, private newsletters and more. VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Microsoft-AT&T partnership is a preemptive strike in 5G | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/07/17/microsoft-att-partnership-is-a-preemptive-strike-in-5g"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Guest Microsoft-AT&T partnership is a preemptive strike in 5G Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Are you ready to bring more awareness to your brand? Consider becoming a sponsor for The AI Impact Tour. Learn more about the opportunities here. AT&T and Microsoft announced a multiyear partnership that will see AT&T move its non-network infrastructure computing needs to the Microsoft Azure cloud as it becomes a “cloud first” company. Aside from the 270K employees at AT&T that will now migrate to the Office 365 platform for office and collaboration needs, and the various apps and databases that AT&T needs to run its varied businesses that will move to Microsoft Azure, there is much more here than just Microsoft getting a lot of new O365 and Azure customers. And there is much more at stake here for AT&T as well. From AT&T’s perspective, it’s clearly important that they move to a more modern infrastructure for internal needs. But equally, if not more importantly, is the need for AT&T to create an environment that allows it to add new services for resale to customers. 5G will be an innovative technology that will create major opportunities for network operators to not only provide faster connectivity and lower latency but also to offer network services they never could have created before. 5G is revolutionary in its ability to “slice and dice” networks to create a large number of potential services – some at a very premium price, and some at very low cost. If the network operators don’t leverage this to offer new services and revenue streams, others surely will. All of the network operators are eyeing being able to charge not only for network connectivity but also for over the top services like specialized security services, remote monitoring and diagnostics, remote healthcare, smart cities services, autonomous vehicles, and new entertainment options like AR/VR (also important in enterprise), etc. This requires a distributed computing infrastructure that includes edge servers and distributed data networks. This has to be built on a microservices architecture on cloud enabled and distributed computing resources. This is a major advantage that cloud enables. AT&T can build out 5G networking just fine. But they are not a cloud service provider and can really leverage Microsoft in this space. Of course, this means AT&T will offer Microsoft Azure as the preferred service, to the competitive advantage of Microsoft. But it’s unlikely AT&T will turn away clients who insist on running on top of competing clouds (e.g., AWS and Google). Still, having “preferred” status gives Microsoft a major advantage in gaining customers, or at least in gaining revenues for services AT&T offers to customers. VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! Aside from the above advantages, Microsoft knows that as it moves to a more distributed cloud environment, it has to create high speed and low latency data lanes to enable many of the services it hopes to offer on top of Azure. Many of these data lanes will be wireless, and 5G is the future in wireless wide area networks, especially in enterprise situations where devices — which may well be vehicles, robots, autonomous instruments, AR/VR headsets, and other IoT capabilities — will likely be untethered and/or roaming. Microsoft is spending a great deal of time and resources building out a distributed/hybrid cloud environment and has focused on creating an edge based IoT infrastructure. Who better than a network operator like AT&T, that knows where its customers will most use 5G connectivity, to tell Microsoft where to station those edge cloud servers (potentially even collocated with AT&T equipment). Is it possible we may even see edge servers in many cell towers? Yes. And as mentioned earlier, being a preferred cloud vendor means Microsoft will have a competitive advantage against AWS, Google, and others in any cloud based services delivered or procured thorough AT&T. This partnership offers some key benefits for both companies as outlined above. But there are also some potential downsides. First, if Microsoft is closely aligned with AT&T, what will it mean for potential partnerships with other network operators who may not want to partner so closely with a company working with the “enemy.” This may actually force other network operators to move towards an AWS or Google as a countermove. Next, from AT&T’s perspective, if they are closely tied to Azure, what does that mean, particularly for their future enterprise customers, who don’t wish to be beholden to Microsoft? I don’t expect this to be an issue with most consumer services (e.g., gaming, entertainment, autonomous vehicles) as most consumers don’t care who the underlying technology provider is. Bottom line: We should expect to see a lot more partnering between cloud infrastructure providers and network operators as 5G becomes more available in the next 1-2 years. There are some great benefits for both in tying a high speed, low latency network to a cloud infrastructure that can bring alive a number of new and compelling services for consumers and businesses. This will be key to having network operators become more than just “dumb pipes.” But what was once a “pick a carrier based on their signal availability and price” may turn into a “pick a combination network/cloud provider,” which may make it more difficult in some situations to choose. Still, I see this as a win for both AT&T and Microsoft long term, and an example of how network operations and services will change in the future. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Microsoft unveils Azure Arc, Stack Edge, and new virtual machine instances | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/11/04/microsoft-unveils-azure-arc-stack-edge-and-new-virtual-machine-services"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Microsoft unveils Azure Arc, Stack Edge, and new virtual machine instances Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Scott Guthrie, executive vice president for Microsoft's Cloud and AI group, speaks at Microsoft's Build conference in San Francisco. Are you ready to bring more awareness to your brand? Consider becoming a sponsor for The AI Impact Tour. Learn more about the opportunities here. Microsoft today announced a slew of new collaboration and productivity services to kick off its Ignite conference in Orlando, Florida. Azure took the spotlight, headlined by Azure Arc — which effectively enables Azure services anywhere — and a revamped data analytics offering and Azure Stack Edge. Azure Arc Azure Arc brings Azure products and management to multiple clouds, edge devices, and datacenters on any infrastructure, with the goal of unifying orchestration and governance. Resources served through Arc look and feel like they’re practically native, and they’re accompanied by auditing, compliance, and role-based access and security settings designed to scale. Azure corporate vice president Julia White framed Arc as the evolution of Azure Stack, Microsoft’s service that enables consistent cloud models deployable on-premises. She asserts it will confer benefits like seamless updates and deployment without compromising on scalability. “Enterprises rely on a hybrid technology approach to take advantage of their on-premises investment and, at the same time, utilize cloud innovation,” White wrote in a blog post. “As more business operations and applications expand to include edge devices and multiple clouds, hybrid capabilities must enable apps to run seamlessly across on-premises, multi-cloud, and edge devices while providing consistent management and security across all distributed locations.” VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! Arc — which is available in preview starting today — supports hardware running Linux and Windows Server, as well as Kubernetes clusters (through Microsoft’s Azure Kubernetes Service ). Developers can use its controls to build containerized apps that take advantage of the Azure tools of their choice (like Azure Resource Manager, Azure Shell, Azure Portal, API, and Azure Policy), while IT teams can launch and configure the apps using GitOps-based configuration management. “Today, we take a significant leap forward to enable customers to move from just hybrid cloud to truly deliver innovation anywhere with Azure,” added White. “At Microsoft, we understand that hybrid cloud capabilities must evolve to enable innovation anywhere, while providing a seamless development, deployment, and on-going management experience.” Azure Data Services (Arc) and Azure Arc-enabled API Management Azure Data Services (Arc), which is a part of Arc, allows customers to run software like Azure SQL Database and Azure Database for PostgreSQL Hyperscale on most infrastructures. It eliminates the need to custom-code apps by fielding deployment from cloud to SQL database and by affording a choice in data, analytics engine, and resource type. Azure Data Services (Arc) begins its preview November 4, starting with the ability to run Azure SQL Database and Azure Database for PostgreSQL Hyperscale on Kubernetes clusters. Also debuting in preview is Azure Arc-enabled API Management, a containerized API gateway that allows users to manage APIs within the Azure API Management plane. It can be deployed in any environment and keeps data localized for security and compliance purposes. Azure Stack Edge On the subject of Azure Stack — which Microsoft says is actively used by enterprises across 60 countries, including the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, KPMG Norway, and Airbus Defense & Space — today marks the launch of Azure Stack Edge, a managed AI-enabled appliance designed to bring compute, storage, and intelligence to the edge. In the near future, Azure customers will be able to take advantage of features like virtual machine support and graphics chip acceleration, in addition to multiple nodes and multi-access compute. The above-mentioned appliance doubles as a storage gateway and comes with a built-in FPGA that accelerates AI inferencing tasks. Customers will be able to run apps on containers and take advantage of a fail-over feature that moves virtual machines to other servers if needed. Azure Stack Edge will arrive alongside a new Rugged series of Azure Stack machines intended to bring cloud computing capabilities to “the harshest environment conditions.” Two new machines will target defense, industrial, energy, humanitarian aid, and emergency response scenarios. Azure Stack Hub Kubernetes is now generally available on Azure Stack Hub, Microsoft’s extension that lets customers deliver Azure services from their own datacenter or consume them from a service provider. Clusters contain a Kubernetes Cloud Provider that leverages Azure Resource Manager to scale compute, network, and storage through an Azure-maintained virtual machine image. Windows Virtual Desktop on Stack Hub is launching in preview, enabling Host Pools to run workloads on Azure Stack Hub. As for BC/DR foundational pattern, which will be available in the first half of 2020, it’ll provide virtual machine failback templates for distributed servers. Event Hubs is launching in preview. It’s a real-time data ingestion product that can be used to stream millions of events per second and build dynamic data pipelines. So is Stream Analytics, which lets users design hybrid, low-latency architectures on Stack Hub that surface data streams from IoT Edge or Event Hubs and output the results to local services and databases. Virtual machines Azure Bastion Azure Bastion, a fully managed platform-as-a-service offering that provides RDP and SSH access (using SSL) to virtual machines through the Azure Portal, is now generally available in six Azure regions: Australia East, East U.S., Japan East, South Central U.S., West Europe, and West U.S. Sessions can be initiated directly from Azure Portal (using single click), after which Bastion brokers a session to target machines in the network over private IP addresses. Azure Disks Azure Disks, Microsoft’s disk storage offering for use with Azure virtual machines, now boast better performance (in preview) for workloads with less predictable traffic patterns, courtesy of bursting enhancement. Applicable SSD disks can now burst up to 30 times the provisioned performance target. Disks are available in smaller sizes — 4GB, 8GB, and 16GB — and now support server-side encryption with customer-managed keys (SSE with CMK) in Azure Key Vault, in preview for Premium SSD, Standard SSD, and Standard HDD disk types. Furthermore, Azure Managed Disks now offer direct upload of virtual hard disks from on-premises or backup locations as managed disks. New virtual machine types Azure Da_v4 and Das_v4 virtual machines, which launched in preview last August, are now generally available and deployable via the Azure Portal, command-line interface, or PowerShell, or using Arm Templates. They pack AMD Epyc 7452 processors and provide up to 96 virtual processors, paired with 384GBs of RAM and 2,400GBs of SSD-based temporary storage. The new virtual machines join Ea_v4 and Eas_v4 instances, which provide up to 96 virtual processors, 672 GBs of RAM, and 2,400 GBs of SSD-based temporary storage, and Azure Generation 2 virtual machines. Generation 2 boasts increased memory and Intel Software Guard Extensions, plus support for the UEFI boot architecture and operating system disk sizes exceeding 2TBs. HBv2 virtual machines are on the way and will enable customers to run a single job across 36,000 cores with support up to 80,000 cores. And generally available starting today is the HPC Cache service, which automatically caches data both on-premises and in the cloud by delivering network file system (NFSv3) access in compliant directory structures. Last, but not least, are additions to Azure’s NV size virtual machines family optimized for design, gaming, machine learning, and simulation workloads. The NDv2-series features eight Nvidia Tesla V100 interconnected graphics chips with 32GB of memory each, 40 non-hyperthreaded Intel Xeon Platinum 8168 processor cores, and 672GB of system memory, as well as 100Gbps EDR InfiniBand with support for standard Mellanox OFED drivers and all message passing interface (MSI) types and versions. As for NVv4 — which is available for preview starting today — it boasts a total of 256GB of graphics chip memory and AMD’s MxGPU, plus SR-IOV technology, which offers a dedicated graphics frame buffer. In a related development, new virtual machine scale sets launched in preview. They let customers create an empty scale set and add various virtual machines belonging to different series later, and to provision virtual machines with custom images using a shared image gallery. A complementary new scale-in policy, instance protection from scale-in, and termination notifications help determine the order in which virtual machines should be scaled and provide up to 15 minutes to perform cleanup or end tasks prior to deprovisioning. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Qualcomm expects over 200 million 5G devices in 2020, reveals Yoga 5G PC | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2020/01/06/qualcomm-expects-over-200-million-5g-devices-in-2020-reveals-yoga-5g-pc"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Qualcomm expects over 200 million 5G devices in 2020, reveals Yoga 5G PC Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship. Learn more. Speaking at a CES 2020 press conference today, Qualcomm President Cristiano Amon provided a brief overlook at the current state of 5G device uptake around the world, as well as introducing Lenovo’s long-awaited 5G PC, the convertible laptop-tablet Yoga 5G, which will carry a $1,499 price point starting in spring 2020. According to Amon, prior 2020 targets of 200 million 5G devices appear at this point to be “conservative,” as momentum continues to build for the company’s Snapdragon 8- and 7-series chips. There are now over 340 operators investing in 5G globally, including over 45 with 5G already deployed, and the company is expecting over 200 million 5G smartphones — just one category of devices — to be shipped over the year. By 2022, it says, the number of shipped 5G smartphones will be over 750 million, and 5G connections should beat 1 billion by 2023, two years faster than 4G hit that number. Qualcomm now estimates 2.8 billion 5G connections by 2025. The company also used its CES conference to co-announce Lenovo’s Yoga 5G, which they billed as the world’s first 5G PC thanks to a Spring 2020 on-sale date — a quarter before “Summer 2020” 5G laptops that have been announced by Dell, HP, and others at CES. All of these initial 5G laptops notably appear to be powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X55 modem, regardless of whether they’re using Intel or Qualcomm CPUs. VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! Lenovo chose the Snapdragon 8cx chipset for Yoga 5G, which converts from a laptop to a tablet as the user prefers. On the hardware side, it promises 24-hour battery life, a 14-inch display, Dolby Atmos, and both a fingerprint scanner and IR camera for security. An Adreno 680 GPU should provide ample graphics horsepower despite requiring no cooling fan. Yoga 5G is being marketed as offering 5G users a more secure alternative to open Wi-Fi, by enabling them to connect via 5G cellular rather than using potentially insecure public networks. According to Lenovo, the Yoga 5G’s major technical innovation is a patented 5G antenna system that’s capable of working with 5G millimeter wave and sub-6GHz frequencies while working in either tablet or laptop modes. The machine is also able to dissipate heat 60% better than the prior generation, and has a new adaptive USB charging port. Yoga 5G was previously known under the codename “Project Limitless.” Lenovo says that additional 5G devices developed using Qualcomm’s processors are coming, as well. Qualcomm also briefly teased Cloud AI 100, an intelligent edge AI inference processing unit for the cloud. The unit will emphasize power efficiency, enabling a greater spreading of AI tech to the edge of the cloud. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Microsoft reports $36.9 billion in Q2 2020 revenue: Azure up 62%, Surface up 6%, and LinkedIn up 24% | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2020/01/29/microsoft-earnings-q2-2020"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Microsoft reports $36.9 billion in Q2 2020 revenue: Azure up 62%, Surface up 6%, and LinkedIn up 24% Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Microsoft office sign. Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship. Learn more. Microsoft today reported earnings for its second fiscal quarter of 2020, including revenue of $36.9 billion, net income of $11.6 billion, and earnings per share of $1.51 (compared to revenue of $32.5 billion, net income of $8.4 billion, and earnings per share of $1.08 in Q2 2019). All three of the company’s operating groups saw year-over-year growth. Analysts had expected Microsoft to earn $35.7 billion in revenue and report earnings per share of $1.32. The company thus easily beat expectations. The company’s stock was up 1.5% in regular trading, and up another 1.5% in after-hours trading. Microsoft said it returned $8.5 billion to shareholders in the form of share repurchases and dividends during the quarter. “We are innovating across every layer of our differentiated technology stack and leading in key secular areas that are critical to our customers’ success,” Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said in a statement. “Along with our expanding opportunity, we are working to ensure the technology we build is inclusive, trusted and creates a more sustainable world, so every person and every organization can benefit.” $MSFT Azure revenue growth – Q1 2018: 90% – Q2 2018: 98% – Q3 2018: 93% – Q4 2018: 89% – Q1 2019: 76% – Q2 2019: 76% – Q3 2019: 73% – Q4 2019: 64% – Q1 2020: 59% – Q2 2020: 62% — Emil Protalinski (@EPro) January 29, 2020 Event GamesBeat at the Game Awards We invite you to join us in LA for GamesBeat at the Game Awards event this December 7. Reserve your spot now as space is limited! A 62% revenue increase for Azure indicates a slight rebound from the slowing cloud growth for the company. The figure has been falling steadily lately: 76% in Q2 2019, 73% in Q3 2019, 64% in Q4 2019, and 59% in Q1 2020. This is expected — growth has to slow eventually — but Microsoft needs to control the message. If not growth, then what? Microsoft does not break out exact Azure revenue numbers, likely to avoid comparisons with industry leader AWS. Operating group highlights Here are the highlights across Microsoft’s three operating groups: Productivity and Business Processes: Up 17% to $11.8 billion. Office commercial revenue grew 16%, Office consumer and cloud revenue was up 19%, and Dynamics revenue increased 12%. LinkedIn revenue jumped a solid 24%. Office 365 consumer subscribers hit 37.2 million. Intelligent Cloud: Up 27% to $11.9 billion. Server products and cloud services revenue grew 30%, while Enterprise Services revenue increased 6%. The big number as always was Azure revenue, which was up 62%. More Personal Computing: Up 2% to $13.2 billion. Windows OEM revenue was up 18%, while Windows commercial revenue increased 25%. Search advertising revenue minus traffic acquisition costs increased 6%. Surface revenue increased by 6%, and Xbox content and services revenue decreased 11%. Microsoft Office continues to be a cash cow for the company, with the pivot to an Office 365 subscription business largely deemed a success. Thirty-seven million consumer subscribers of Office 365 is significant, but it still pales in comparison to the enterprise side. In fact, in the previous quarter, Microsoft passed 200 million monthly active Office 365 business users (up from 180 million). Windows also saw big gains, which is rare but not surprising. A big driver was Microsoft ending support for Windows 7 on January 14, 2020. Businesses were well aware of this deadline, resulting in last-minute upgrades and PC shipment growth for the end-of-year quarter. Indeed, Microsoft cited end of Windows 7 support and the resulting “healthy Windows 10 demand.” LinkedIn, Surface, and Gaming Office and Windows aside, Microsoft has successfully monetized its LinkedIn acquisition , which closed in December 2016. The company has seen double-digit growth for LinkedIn ever since. Surface continues to bring in $1 billion quarters. Q1 is typically the company’s worst corner for Surface, and Q1 2020 was no different; Q2 tends to be the best, and Q2 2020 also followed this pattern. Specifically, Microsoft got really close to a $2 billion quarter for Surface: a record $1.98 billion in Q2 2020 (compared to $1.86 billion in Q2 2019). In October, Microsoft held its annual hardware event , where it refreshed its lineup with the Surface Laptop 3 , Surface Pro 7 , Surface Pro X , and Surface Earbuds in time for the holiday season. It hasn’t yet been a full quarter of these devices, but so far so good. This was easily the company’s biggest Surface event in years — Microsoft also unveiled dual-screen devices coming in 2020: Surface Neo and Surface Duo. Like in Q1 2020, gaming was another disappointment for Microsoft in Q2 2020. While Xbox content and services revenue declined 11%, gaming revenue as a whole declined 21%. Microsoft also appears to have stopped breaking out Xbox Live monthly active users — it has now been two quarters without an update. GamesBeat's creed when covering the game industry is "where passion meets business." What does this mean? We want to tell you how the news matters to you -- not just as a decision-maker at a game studio, but also as a fan of games. Whether you read our articles, listen to our podcasts, or watch our videos, GamesBeat will help you learn about the industry and enjoy engaging with it. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Microsoft acquires virtualized mobile network startup Affirmed Networks | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2020/03/26/microsoft-acquires-virtualized-mobile-network-startup-affirmed-networks"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Microsoft acquires virtualized mobile network startup Affirmed Networks Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship. Learn more. Microsoft today announced it is acquiring Affirmed Networks , a startup that offers fully virtualized, cloud-native mobile network solutions, for an undisclosed amount. The company wants to integrate Affirmed Networks’ technology into Microsoft Azure to let the telecommunications industry deploy and maintain 5G networks via the cloud rather than just hardware and software. Affirmed Networks offers a virtualized cloud-native network called Evolved Packet Core (vEPC) that lets communication service providers scale with the demands of mobile services. The startup also offers a cloud-native platform for 5G and a range of capabilities in automation and orchestration. Microsoft describes Affirmed Networks’ solutions as letting operators “simplify network operations, reduce costs, and rapidly create, and launch new revenue-generating services.” Affirmed Networks CEO Anand Krishnamurthy, who was only appointed yesterday, says the startup has helped over 100 customers across the globe move to its model at “70% of the cost of traditional networks.” We asked Microsoft how these customers (which include Vodafone, AT&T, and Softbank) will be affected. “There is no change for Affirmed Networks’ customers,” a Microsoft spokesperson told VentureBeat. “The continuity of their business operations is paramount.” Telecommunication service providers are currently racing to adopt 5G, the fifth generation of wireless communications technologies, with promises of faster speeds and lower latencies. Potential applications range from autonomous vehicles and smart cities to virtual reality and augmented reality. As carriers upgrade their infrastructure, there’s an opportunity to manage their 5G network workloads in the cloud while serving their customers’ edge computing needs. (Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services, and Google Cloud have been increasingly striking cloud deals with telecom providers over the past few years.) VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! Microsoft wants to help accelerate the telecommunications industry’s transition to the cloud using Affirmed Networks’ tech. Here is how the company is justifying the acquisition: This acquisition will allow us to evolve our work with the telecommunications industry, building on our secure and trusted cloud platform for operators. With Affirmed Networks, we will be able to offer new and innovative solutions tailored to the unique needs of operators, including managing their network workloads in the cloud. Previous generations of wireless networks have been based on purpose-built hardware. We believe that with innovation in software and by making use of broadly available cloud computing platforms like Microsoft Azure, operators can deploy and maintain 5G networks and services more efficiently, more cost effectively, more rapidly, and more securely. Affirmed Networks was founded in 2010 and has raised $155 million to date. The startup has four cofounders: Hassan Ahmed, Stephan Noll, Terry Durand, and Timothy Mortsolf. In his announcement, Krishnamurthy thanked the company’s customers, employees, investors, and partners. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Lucid Sight raises $6 million to take blockchain games to traditional platforms | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/04/02/lucid-sight-raises-6-million-to-take-blockchain-games-to-traditional-platforms"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Lucid Sight raises $6 million to take blockchain games to traditional platforms Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Lucid Sight Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship. Learn more. Lucid Sight said that it has raised $6 million in funding to expand its MLB Champions and Crypto Space Commander blockchain games to traditional game platforms. Los Angeles-based Lucid Sight has now raised $11 million to fuel the growth of its digital ownership games company will also launch Scarcity Engine, a software developer tool that will help bridge the gap between blockchain and traditional gaming platforms. The idea of shifting the games to traditional platforms is to remove the friction of existing blockchain-based gaming by continuing to improve functionality and bringing these games to mobile, PC, and console platforms. This capital will also be used to launch a developer tool called Scarcity Engine later this year, which will bridge the gap between blockchain and traditional gaming platforms. Scarcity Engine is the technology powering MLB Champions and CSC. Event GamesBeat at the Game Awards We invite you to join us in LA for GamesBeat at the Game Awards event this December 7. Reserve your spot now as space is limited! Investors include Salem Partners, The Galaxy EOS VC Fund, Digital Currency Group, Breakaway Growth, Frontier Venture Capital, and Animoca Brands. Existing shareholders include Major League Baseball (MLB), Rana Capital Partners, Los Angeles Lakers VP Research & Development Joey Buss, and AppOnboard Founder and mobile game industry pioneer Jonathan Zweig. Above: MLB Champions is one of Lucid Sight’s blockchain games. “This capital will allow us to bring games such as MLB Champions and CSC to the masses while maintaining the benefits of digital scarcity provided by blockchain technology.” said Randy Saaf, CEO of Lucid Sight, in a statement. “We have found that game players enjoy digital ownership in our games, but users want to be able to game where they traditionally game: mobile, PC, and console.” Saaf will be a speaker in a lightning round talk at GamesBeat Summit 2019. During the 2018 MLB season, Lucid Sight released a beta of MLB Champions, a digital collecting game where players can buy collectibles that improve and earn rewards as real life baseball games are played. MLB Champions is an officially licensed product of MLB Advanced Media and Major League Baseball Players Association. The new season of the game is planned for the 2019 MLB season. In 2018, Lucid Sight also began development of CSC, a sandbox massively multiplayer online space game that operates in a completely real-time, player-controlled economy. The company plans to release a PC version of CSC to early access on Steam in 2019. As part of the expansion the company also signed a deal to expand its games into Asia through a partnership with Animoca Brands. Lucid Sight will also use the capital to launch Scarcity Engine 1.0 with select third party game developers. Notably, it will work in conjunction with Iridium Studios to implement Scarcity Engine in the upcoming action role-playing game Cryptic Conjure. Previously, Lucid Sight was focused on creating an ad-support game development platform for VR, but it pivoted away from that. GamesBeat's creed when covering the game industry is "where passion meets business." What does this mean? We want to tell you how the news matters to you -- not just as a decision-maker at a game studio, but also as a fan of games. Whether you read our articles, listen to our podcasts, or watch our videos, GamesBeat will help you learn about the industry and enjoy engaging with it. Discover our Briefings. Join the GamesBeat community! Enjoy access to special events, private newsletters and more. VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"LinkedIn previews new Recruiter, Talent Insights, and Skill Insights features | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/09/26/linkedin-previews-new-linkedin-recruiter-talent-insights-and-skill-insights-features"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages LinkedIn previews new Recruiter, Talent Insights, and Skill Insights features Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Are you ready to bring more awareness to your brand? Consider becoming a sponsor for The AI Impact Tour. Learn more about the opportunities here. This week marked the kickoff of LinkedIn’s Talent Connect conference, held in Dallas, Texas. To commemorate the event’s 10-year anniversary, the Microsoft subsidiary unveiled a slew of new products and features targeting recruiters, hiring managers, and job seekers alike. Here’s a roundup of the highlights. Talent Insights and Recruiter LinkedIn — which now counts as members more than 645 million people across over 200 countries — is poised to expand its data analytics offerings. To this end, it’s integrating Talent Insights, its self-service product that draws over 20 million companies and more than 20 million active job listings, with a revamped LinkedIn Recruiter & Jobs experience. Above: LinkedIn Talent Insights in Recruiter & Jobs. Clicking on the new Talent Insights Report tab within Recruiter & Jobs will pull up market data from Talent Insights. As before, it can be used to suss out talent pools, targetable peer companies, and desirable locations, as well as the competitiveness of addressable pools, the number of eligible professionals for a given role, and candidates ready for a new opportunity. VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! LinkedIn says companies that use both Recruiter and Talent Insights see direct messaging engagement rates in excess of 22% on average. Moreover, it claims those clients are 22% more likely to get a positive response from new contacts. Talent Insights will be available later this fall. Recruiter Mobile App Recruiter is now easier to use on the go. That’s thanks to a new Recruiter app for Android and iOS that has been rebuilt from the ground up. Among the highlights are an improved messaging and notifications experience and a streamlined projects and candidates pipeline. Above: The LinkedIn Recruiter mobile app. On the messaging and collaboration front, the Recruiter mobile app delivers real-time notifications when targeted job applicants respond to outreach. (LinkedIn says that over 70% of the time those replies arrive after 7 p.m.). There’s a message composition screen that supports document attachments, and from the Notes screen team members can quickly start conversations and share profiles with managers or clients. The new Recruiter app also features a refreshed candidate search experience, replete with smart filters and keywords. Recruiters can review candidate profiles or save them to existing projects and browse a list of recommended matches informed by which candidates they’ve chosen to save, hide, and message. The updated Recruiter app will roll out on all platforms before the end of the year. Talent Hub Talent Hub, an applicant-tracking solution that collates data from Recruiter, Jobs, and Apply with LinkedIn, is now generally available. As a refresher, Talent Hub aims to address the recruitment challenges faced by small- and mid-sized companies with a range of tools, including a single system of record and integrations with third-party screening services. Talent Hub offers talent pool and candidate insights, as well as workflow and performance metrics and features like interview scheduling, feedback-sharing, and record-keeping. As for the aforementioned integrations, it plays nicely with Docusign, popular background check solutions, and more. Skill Insights and Recruiter System Connect Skill Insights, a module available within LinkedIn Learning Pro (the subscription, enterprise-focused version of LinkedIn’s educational platform), launched earlier in the year. It lets users review how their skills profile has changed over time and benchmark it against peers, as well as identifying gaps in their knowledge. In the next year, Skill Insights will go further with tighter LinkedIn Learning integration. It will spotlight which skills employees are developing and track that development over time. In related news, LinkedIn announced that Recruiter System Connect (RCS), the tool that connects Recruiter with other applicant-tracking systems, will within the next quarter support Oracle’s Taleo Enterprise Edition in general availability. LinkedIn also said it’s hard at work on the next generation of RCS, which will include a unified search function. The raft of new capabilities comes weeks after the debut of LinkedIn Skill Assessments , a library of 10- 15-minute tests users can take to validate the skills they’ve listed on their LinkedIn profile. In related news, job searches on LinkedIn will soon be saved automatically so users will be able to dive back in with a tap or click from the Jobs page. And pay information provided by employees and employers from LinkedIn Salary, a feature that was previously exclusive to LinkedIn Premium, will become visible to all LinkedIn users. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Hearthstone's Battlegrounds adds Dragons in massive 16.4 update | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2020/02/26/hearthstones-battlegrounds-adds-dragons-in-massive-16-4-update"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Hearthstone’s Battlegrounds adds Dragons in massive 16.4 update Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn There be dragons! Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship. Learn more. For weeks, fans of Hearthstone’s Battlegrounds have wondered when Dragons would come to Blizzard Entertainment’s auto-battler, and what this tribe would do in the mode. Finally, we know. Blizzard announced today that Dragons would be part of a number of changes coming to Battlegrounds today (Wednesday, February 26). The 16.4 patch adds seven new heroes along with 18 new minions (many of which are Dragons). The heroes include Reno Jackson, Galakrond the Awakened (as the star of the Descent of Dragons expansion, of course this wyrm is part of this), and the five original Dragon Aspects (Alexstrasza, Deathwing, Malygos, Nozdormu, Ysera). Eleven of the 18 new units are either Dragons or have synergies with the tribe, and with a host of uninspiring minions and heroes rotating out, along with some fatigue with existing archetypes, expect a lot of experimentation our of the gates. Auto-battlers like Auto Chess , Dota Underlords , and Teamflight Tactics are a rising market niche for online games. They combine the draft of card games with the placement of turn-based strategy, and they’ve proven to be massive hits both as games and as entertainment on Twitch. Tens of millions play the games. According to StreamElements, Battlegrounds hasn’t cracked the top 3 on Twitch or YouTube yet. But changes like this help keep games exciting and bring in new players and viewers. And Battlegrounds is still in beta. Here be Dragons Blizzard set up a special Battlegrounds realm for visiting press and other personalities at a recent Hearthstone briefing in Irvine, California. I played two matches, so while I had some time to tinker with these new units and heroes, I by no means had enough of a chance to give anything but my rudimentary thoughts as a rank amateur auto-battler. Event GamesBeat at the Game Awards We invite you to join us in LA for GamesBeat at the Game Awards event this December 7. Reserve your spot now as space is limited! First, let’s look at the new Heroes and their draconic powers: Galakrond: Galakrond’s Greed [Cost 1]: Replace a minion in Bob’s Tavern with a random one from a higher Tavern Tier. Deathwing: ALL Will Burn! [Passive]: All minions have +3 Attack. Ysera: Dream Portal [Cost 1]: Refresh and add a Dragon to Bob’s Tavern. Nozdormu: Clairvoyance [Passive]: Your first Refresh each turn costs (0). Malygos: Arcane Alteration [Cost 0]: Replace a minion with a random one of the same Tavern Tier. Alexstrasza: Queen of Dragons [Passive]: After you upgrade Bob’s Tavern to Tavern Tier 5, Discover two Dragons. Reno Jackson: Gonna Be Rich! [Cost 4]: Make a friendly minion Golden (once per game). In my two games, I only got offered one Dragon hero, Deathwing. The passive buff applies to all minions — yours, Bob’s, and your opponents. This was a surprise in the first round, as I had assumed it would buff your minions. Since I had limited time with it, it’s difficult to draw any conclusions, especially since I’m not sure how well this will work with the other new minions. However, I could see this working well with builds that prize minions with high health. But right now, with Demon and buffed-up Murloc lineups being so prevalent (though I did encounter someone with a Mech build with a gold 104/104 and a gold 72/70 Pogo-Hoppers), I’m not sure how much impact Deathwing’s power will have later in a match, though I can see it helping you get ahead if you have big butt minions early on. New Minions for the dirty work The 16.4 patch adds 18 minions to Bob’s Tavern. Here’s a rundown of what you’ll find when you play Battlegrounds later today or tomorrow. Some of these are new creations, and others are old favorites from previous expansions that have thrived either in Constructed or the Arena. You can check out each card in the gallery above as well. Dragonspawn Lieutenant [Dragon, Tier 1] 2 Attack, 3 Health: Taunt. Red Whelp [Dragon, Tier 1] 1 Attack, 2 Health: Start of Combat, deal 1 damage per friendly Dragon to one random enemy minion. Glyph Guardian [Dragon, Tier 2] 2 Attack, 4 Health: When this minion attacks, double its attack. Steward of Time [Dragon, Tier 2] 2 Attack, 4 Health: When you sell this minion, give all minions in Bob’s Tavern +1/+1. Waxrider Togwaggle [Tier 2] 1 Attack, 2 Health: Whenever a friendly Dragon kills an enemy, gain +2/+2. Unstable Ghoul [Tier 2] 1 Attack, 3 Health: Taunt, Deathrattle: Deal 1 damage to all minions. Bronze Warden [Dragon, Tier 3] 2 Attack, 1 Health: Divine Shield, Reborn. Hangry Dragon [Dragon, Tier 3] 4 Attack, 4 Health: At the start of your turn, if you won the last combat get +2/+2. Drakonid Enforcer [Dragon, Tier 4] 3 Attack, 6 Health: After a friendly minion loses Divine Shield, gain +2/+2. Murozond [Dragon, Tier 5]: Battlecry: Add a minion to your hand from your last opponent’s warband. Herald of Flame [Dragon, Tier 4] 5 Attack, 4 Health: Overkill: Deal 3 damage to the left-most enemy minion. Cobalt Scalebane [Dragon, Tier 4] 5 Attack, 5 Health: At the end of your turn, give another random friendly minion +3 Attack. Murozond [Dragon, Tier 5] 5 Attack, 5 Health: Battlecry: Add a minion to your hand from your last opponent’s warband. Twilight Emissary [Dragon, Tier 5] 6 Attack, 8 Health: Taunt, Battlecry: Give a friendly Dragon +3/+3. Razorgore, the Untamed [Dragon, Tier 5] 2 Attack, 4 Health: At the end of your turn, gain +1/+1 for each Dragon you have. Holy Mackerel [Murloc, Tier 6] 8 Attack, 4 Health: After another friendly minion loses Divine Shield, gain Divine Shield. Imp Mama [Demon, Tier 6] 6 Attack, 8 Health: Whenever this minion takes damage, summon a random Demon and give it Taunt. Kalecgos, Arcane Aspect [Dragon, Tier 6] 2 Attack, 8 Health: After you play a minion with Battlecry, give your Dragons +1/+1. Nadina the Red [Tier 6] 7 Attack, 4 Health: Deathrattle: Give your Dragons Divine Shield. The Dragon Whelp felt powerful, even if it only does 1 damage as opposed to the 3 damage from the Soul Juggler. It’s enough to ping away Divine Shields and weak minions early on, but in my limited time with the 16.4 patch, it didn’t feel strong enough later on to make much of a difference, especially with a number of Divine Shield minions leaving the format. 1 2 View All Join the GamesBeat community! Enjoy access to special events, private newsletters and more. VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Hearthstone: Year of the Phoenix -- Diving into economics and monetization | Page 2 of 3 | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/business/hearthstone-year-of-the-phoenix-diving-into-economics-and-monetization/2"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Hearthstone: Year of the Phoenix — Diving into economics and monetization Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Hearthstone game director Ben Lee (left) and production director Nathan Lyons-Smith break down monetization and economics of Blizzard's card game. Selling packs, 6 years in Above: Hearthstone’s welcome bundle comes with a dragon legendary. Blizzard is experimenting with bundles now. GamesBeat: For some time, your release tempo has been: Dungeon Run-based expansions, then adventure, and now back to another different type of single-player mode. Do you find, as you jump through these different single-player modes, do your monetization strategies change quarter-by-quarter, release-by-release, or is consistent with what you’re offering in single-player? Lee: We’ve tried to hit the same price point. With Tombs of Terror we did a bit lower, because we wanted to make the last chapter free. It was this special boss encounter. It didn’t feel right charging extra for that. While it’s a cool fun encounter, it didn’t feel the same as a full chapter. That’s the only exception to that. We generally wanted that experience to be $20. With the Dalaran Heist, we massively overprovided on value. If you add it up to get all the achievements and checkmarks, it’s around 1,000 hours of content. It’s huge. Even as a normal player, it’s hundreds of hours. You get a bunch of card packs and card backs and the Golden Zayle. We were super-happy with the value for money offering from that. Same with Tombs of Terror and with the latest Galakrond’s Awakening. Some players might see it as a paywall for cards, but the dollar value that you get in terms of cards, it’s one of the best value propositions you can have in Hearthstone. You get something like $50 or more worth of card value for $20, plus you get all the content. Generally we want to provide good value for money, and that’s why we’ve done the card pack changes as well. We want players to feel happy with what they’re purchasing, feel like they got good value for money. GamesBeat: Have you found that with some people playing more Battlegrounds than Standard, that it’s hurting individual pack sales? Event GamesBeat at the Game Awards We invite you to join us in LA for GamesBeat at the Game Awards event this December 7. Reserve your spot now as space is limited! Lee: No. We’re actually quite happy with where the game is at the moment. We had a recent investor call where we showed positive results first thing. We’re happy with where the game is at at the moment. GamesBeat: When it comes to monetization, what is more important to the company right now? Monetizing off expansions or pack sales? Lee: Not dodging the question, though I sound like it, but the most important thing to us is actually engagement. The reality is that if people are playing our game and enjoying it, they’re probably going to purchase something, and we want that thing to be something that’s fair and good to them, so they don’t feel like they regret purchasing. I think the key thing for us is we want to make cool expansions, make cool content. Going into the future with other game modes, one of the core things we want to do, and it’s really hard, is we want it to use your collection in a very positive way. You pay let’s say $80 for the preorder for the expansion, you can play the cards in Standard, and there are other game modes we release throughout the next year that will leverage your collection in a positive way. Not where you feel like, oh, I need to buy more cards. It’s more like, month one, you have Standard, month two you have something else that uses your cards in an inventive and fun way, the ones you already have. Does Arena matter? Above: I play Arena almost every day, and I feel like it’s an afterthought. GamesBeat: When it comes to Arena, it’s starting to feel like an afterthought. Is this because it’s not monetizing anymore, or is it because it doesn’t have an internal champion at Blizzard? Lee: Both of those things are not true. It does monetize. We have a very dedicated core player base for Arena. Vocally, people posting may not be happy about that, but we see in our data that a bunch of people are very happy playing Arena. Also, there are people on our design team who are very involved in the Arena work that happens. We tried some changes with bucket stuff in various different ways. The reality of that is that stuff’s really complicated and difficult to get right. It’s also very challenging to test. You need to do massive testing and figure out how all those decks work and how they generate. The core things that are missing from Arena — if Arena had a simple rating system like Battleground, it would add a huge amount to the game. It’s one thing we think about doing. We just have to weigh all the different costs of all the development stuff we’re doing. It’s something we may do at some time, but we also have other things we definitely need to do as well. GamesBeat: Since Demon Hunter is coming to Arena, that means you’re not killing the mode. Lee: No! If we were going to do anything with Arena, it would probably — rather than kill it, we would reinvigorate and rework it in some way. There are a bunch of people — let’s say there is a core player base. This isn’t 10 or 15 people. It’s a large amount of people. There are millions of people playing Hearthstone every day, and Arena, off the top of my head I can’t remember a specific number, but it’s hundreds of thousands. It’s not our biggest game mode, but there are lots of — the reality is the number is a large amount. It’s not 10,000 or 5,000, it’s hundreds of thousands. It’s a huge amount of people, but that’s not close to the number of people that play Standard and so on. (Season) pass plays and other strategies GamesBeat: Have you given any serious thought to implementing a season pass or monthly pass for Hearthstone? Lee: Yes. I think that the way that we — we’ve talked about it a bunch. There’s a bunch of positives, and also negatives. One of the negatives is you introduce a treadmill, the player promotions you need to complete it. If you don’t complete it, what we’ve seen in a lot of other games is people actually drop out. We don’t want Hearthstone to feel like a job, something you have to come to and fill this bar. We do have a plan to reward some progression right now, one of the things we detailed in the road map. That isn’t a battle pass or something, it’s more our own envisaging of a reward system. It’s not like, this month you need to do these things or you don’t get this stuff. It’s probably more of a permanent thing, where you can take your time and achieve things in your own way. That’s how we want people to play Hearthstone. We don’t want them to feel like they’re under pressure to do this thing in this way. You can do things your way in your own time and feel good about it. GamesBeat: Other games are selling far more cosmetics than Hearthstone does. Have you thought about ramping this up? Lee: Vanity is hard to do well in a card game. The biggest thing that we can do — some of the biggest things we can possibly do are heroes and card backs. We want to do those, and this past year we launched our thousand-win hero portraits. Those are kind of light hero skins compared to the ones that come with the prepurchases. I’m really happy with those. A lot of players are using them. Everyone has their own favorites. Some people don’t like certain artwork. That’s always going to be the feedback. But we see them being used a lot, which to us means that a lot of people care about them. I could definitely see us introducing more things in that vein, on that front. In terms of a holistic huge cosmetic system, the reality for me, I worked on a game previously called Gwent, and we invested a lot into vanity and customization. Players, in reality, I think the choices — you can spend your money on card packs and get cards, or you can spend it on vanity. You’re probably going to get card packs. GamesBeat: You’re doing something new when it comes with the mage bundle. Why did you decide to do class-specific cards as bundles, and why start with mage? Lee: Mage is the first class that people play. It felt like a good jumping-off point for that. Also, we released Khadgar with it as well, so it just made sense. The class packs are something we’re really interested to see how people feel about them. We think it’s another way to make the game cheaper and more approachable for people. Not everyone, but a lot of players — the average classes played is about 2.3. Obviously that’s an average. Class packs are a great way to — if you’re super-invested in that class, those class packs are a great value for money deal to you. As a player, you have limited amounts of resources, and you have a choice. You can buy this 20-card pack bundle of cards that might give you nothing that’s useful to you, or you might choose this mage card pack, because you play mage and it’s your favorite class. Every card, with the card pack changes and no duplicates as well, in theory every card’s going to be useful for you. Above: Fortunately, Hearthstone’s tavern is almost always open in these times of essential business shutdowns. GamesBeat: Was this change based on feedback from players, or was it just something you came up with internally? Lee: My perception, from the conversations I’ve had — the way we’ve worked on some features is we have a kind of strike team that’s responsible for things. Battlegrounds, we pushed a lot of responsibility and decision-making down to the team. They worked really passionately on it, and they cared a lot about it, and that’s super awesome. We did the same thing with the new shop feature. It’s not as exciting a project to talk about as Battlegrounds, which is super-awesome amazing gameplay, but the team that worked on the shop had a really awesome job. We empowered them to think of, what products would you like to sell? What do you think would be good for players? One suggestion was class packs. That’s where it came from. Also, another thing that we wanted to do that we felt was important was giving the ability to get wild content from there as well, especially thinking about that future where that wild content is potentially something that could be relevant for a bunch of different game modes. It’s also just a bad player experience if you want to buy wild content. You’d go to the web shop and do it, and that’s not a good player experience. Lyons-Smith: Class packs, to Ben’s point — it was totally, hey, strike team, come up with cool things you want to do. They identified a bunch of different types of packs they’d like. You’ve actually seen two of them now. Year of the Dragon packs, using this new pack to define what should be in this type of packs, give it more art assets and different content there. Mage packs are another one, and you can imagine we’re going to create different types of that. Add some variety and interest to what we’re offering to different types of players. 1 2 3 View All Join the GamesBeat community! Enjoy access to special events, private newsletters and more. VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Hearthstone: Year of the Phoenix -- Diving into economics and monetization | Page 3 of 3 | VentureBeat"

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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Hearthstone: Year of the Phoenix — Diving into economics and monetization Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Hearthstone game director Ben Lee (left) and production director Nathan Lyons-Smith break down monetization and economics of Blizzard's card game. Zephrys, retooling, and reloading GamesBeat: How much work goes into teaching Zephrys how to deal with a new class? Note to readers here that Nathan is scratching his forehead. Lee: A lot. Generally, there are times to invest in a card that’s worthwhile because it’s the tentpole of the set. Zephrys was that. Therefore the investment was worthwhile. We can’t do that for every card, obviously. In terms of the specific days, I’m not sure, but it was — making Zephrys work in general, making him pretty good — there are situations where he’s not perfect, but we’re generally happy with how he’s worked out. We’ve seen good positive feedback about him. He’s very useful. He also is a great counter card in many ways. I’m a big fan of counter cards. Personally, I think the game is a back-and-forth, and if you can’t interact with your opponent’s strategy, that’s not the most exciting gameplay. Zephrys definitely gives a window to interact with each other. Lyon: Zephrys is looking at the board state to analyze what’s going on, so it does need to understand the mechanics of what’s on the board, but it doesn’t know anything about what’s in their hand. It doesn’t do anything with what’s in your hand either. It did need to learn a few mechanics. We taught it those to be successful. Above: Kul Thiran Chaplain is one of Priest’s new cards as part of the class’s retooling. GamesBeat: In hindsight, was it good to introduce all these new priest cards and retooling that class along with demon hunter, a new expansion, and teaching Zephrys all at once? Event GamesBeat at the Game Awards We invite you to join us in LA for GamesBeat at the Game Awards event this December 7. Reserve your spot now as space is limited! Lee: We can’t be beholden to something that exists in the game with what we want to do. It’s totally worth it. That’s more of a thing about, was Zephrys worth the time and effort? I think he was. It was cool. But we wouldn’t want to hamstring ourselves with future stuff because of something in the past like that. We’re trying to make the best fun things for our players. I wouldn’t want to not do the priest stuff or whatever the case may be. GamesBeat: After the 2019 layoffs, there was talk from Activision Blizzard about hiring a bunch of new people for its team, for reinvesting into development. Then we get Battlegrounds and the rank refresh and the priest refresh and a new class. Is all of this the fruit of those extra people that have come in? Lyons-Smith: I don’t know that there’s a one-to-one mapping there. I don’t remember all the talking points for the layoffs from a year ago, in terms of how resources were being shifted around. But generally, yes, dev was more of a focus at that point. It had to do with other games coming in the future as well, not just Hearthstone. At that point last year I don’t think we’d announced Overwatch 2 or Diablo IV, and as you can imagine, resources were going to those teams to build them up as well. Lee: More of it is just, we’ve tried to get the team passionately engaged about making content and doing these different things. Strike teams is a way to do that. It’s been super effective. Our leadership team and the team in general — the game is at a point in its age where we have to try new things. We love this game and we want it to continue to be awesome and successful. Therefore, making sure we do cool things for players is the way forward. That’s been our big push. We hope players will be happy with it. Tweaking the card economy GamesBeat: The economy is going to get a huge change with the way you’re doing duplicate protection. Does this mean you’ll see more pack purchases, or does it mean people will be getting the cards they want? Lee: Overall, if you add everything up, it’s cheaper, if you want to get everything. In general we want people to have useful options. There are some extreme examples that sound silly, but our game has so many players that it exists. It’s not small numbers that they exist. I’ll give you a couple of examples. There are players out there who, when they do their prepurchase — let’s say they get eight epics, and four of them are the same thing. They just massively miss out on economy. Even though you get value for dusting, you get a poorer return than if you got a card you would use. We are trying to shave off the probability ends that are really unfair and bad for people. There’s a famous video of Bolf Ramshield legendary, which you may have seen — how many copies does he get? Lyon: It’s either five or seven. [ It’s six — ed. ] Lee: Some guy opens a lot of packs and he gets [six] copies of the same legendary. This is before the legendary drop change. We want to eliminate scenarios like that across all rarities. We also just want the game to be more approachable and easy to get into. As an average player, when you open a card pack, if you get something new, we think that’s more fun and exciting and engaging. We talk about this average of 2.3 classes. We want people to have choice, and giving them cards that they don’t have in theory means they’re more likely to have things they want. GamesBeat: Isn’t this also a huge move when it comes to the goodwill of your players? This is something people have asked for for a long time. Lee: Hopefully. We hope players will be happy with it. We passionately think it’s the right thing to do for the game. Ranking matters GamesBeat: Why do the rank refresh now, adding tiers like what we had early in Hearthstone’s beta days? Lee: For me personally, I think that — things like ranking systems, they generally want to be refreshed. It’s hard to determine a good time, but some period of time. Let’s say every two or three years or whatever the case may be. Change can be healthy. It can be good and engaging and fun. A lot of games out there, they refresh the systems after a certain period of time, and that’s where we’re at at the moment. Hearthstone’s rank system has done a lot of good for us. There’s definitely some elements that we want to improve on, and also add new flavor. Who knows? Maybe three years from now we’ll revamp the rank system again. Change, evolution, updating, and improving: It’s something we as a team very much believe in now and want. That’s how we’re looking at it in the future. It’s about giving players something new and exciting and engaging to do. Again, coming back to how easy the game is to get into financially, we’ve added first time rewards for all the rank floors. If you’re playing through the system, the first time you reach a rank floor, you’ll get a pretty generous reward, and those compound over time. It’s not just monthly. There are also special first time rewards. GamesBeat: Do these new tiers take away what appears to be some of the work from laddering? For example, going from bronze to silver probably feels better than just going from 20 to 15. Lee: Absolutely. Phrasing and terminology-wise — something we think about a lot, your rank — I can’t remember the exact numbers, but if you’re ranked 3, that’s the top 1 percent of Hearthstone. Rank 15 is probably top 75 percent. Rank 15 sounds pretty bad, but you’re actually really pretty good if you’re at rank 15 in reality. Part of the medal tiers, assigning the way they work, it’s really about our players feeling good about the rank. If you’re Gold 1, it sounds better than if you’re rank 13. We want players to feel better about where they are, but also we wanted the system to be — it’s more progressive. The idea is you should be moving forward a lot of the time until you reach the point you’re supposed to be at, and then it should be more of a challenge and you have to fight the way to get up there. GamesBeat: A number of people — fans, media, and such — have said this has been the best year for Hearthstone: in Standard, the addition of Battlegrounds, the game feels really good in many different ways. From what you showed us today, it looks like you’re going to probably make it better next year, this next Standard year. Do you see the potential for that, and do you agree that this past year was Hearthstone’s best? Lee: It’s hard to say. The first year was awesome, because everything was fresh and new. The reality is that we’re a little bit standing on the shoulders of giants that created the original game, Eric Dodds and Ben Brode and Derek Sakamoto and a bunch of other people. They were super-instrumental in making that happen. There was definitely a period of time in between then and now where the game could have maybe used a few more features and additions. We’re at a point now where we think that’s important for players. We want to give them new things to do. There’s been a few missteps in Year of the Dragon, definitely some things to learn from. We’re happy with a lot of what happened too. For Year of the Phoenix we hope we can deliver some awesome experiences. There’s something on the road map that we haven’t talked about yet, that we hope can deliver, that will be a cool surprise as well. We want there to be lots of stuff for players to do and engage with. We hope they’ll be happy. 1 2 3 View All GamesBeat's creed when covering the game industry is "where passion meets business." What does this mean? We want to tell you how the news matters to you -- not just as a decision-maker at a game studio, but also as a fan of games. Whether you read our articles, listen to our podcasts, or watch our videos, GamesBeat will help you learn about the industry and enjoy engaging with it. Discover our Briefings. Join the GamesBeat community! Enjoy access to special events, private newsletters and more. VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Hearthstone: Year of the Phoenix -- Diving into economics and monetization | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/business/hearthstone-year-of-the-phoenix-diving-into-economics-and-monetization/view-all"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Hearthstone: Year of the Phoenix — Diving into economics and monetization Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Hearthstone game director Ben Lee (left) and production director Nathan Lyons-Smith break down monetization and economics of Blizzard's card game. Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship. Learn more. Hearthstone is now six years old, and we’re seeing more experimentation and innovation with how Blizzard Entertainment’s development team are approaching how they design, deploy, and sell the digital card game (which remains a leader in the category, making millions a year through the sales of card packs and bundles). That’s paying off for players, who this year have gotten a new mode (Battlegrounds), in-game economy improvements, and other quality-of-life updates. And now, as we approach a new year of Standard (the game’s competitive mode), Hearthstone’s adding its first new class with Ashes of Outland, the Demon Hunter, which should shake up all modes more than a normal set rotation does. And as this happens, Blizzard continues regular updates to Battlegrounds, such as adding dragons and Illidan the Demon Hunter in recent weeks. During the Hearthstone Summit in February, I interviewed game director Ben Lee and production director Nathan Lyons-Smith after a presentation about the new Standard year and hands-on time with Demon Hunter and other new cards from Ashes of Outlands. I was interested in how all of these tied into how Hearthstone’s team approaches monetization, six years after launch, how those strategies have changed, what’s happening with the moribund Arena mode, and more. This is an edited transcript of our interview. Event GamesBeat at the Game Awards We invite you to join us in LA for GamesBeat at the Game Awards event this December 7. Reserve your spot now as space is limited! GamesBeat: How much does the Classic set still limit your design space for expansions? Ben Lee: It does to some degree. It depends on the class. Every class is different. In some cases, it doesn’t limit it at all. In other cases, it does it to an extreme degree. Priest, as an example, just wasn’t providing players with a good foundation, so we wanted to rework it. We’ve obviously gone to significant effort on that front. Whereas something like rogue, as an example, rogue based on the Classic set is super-amazing, to a degree where a lot of those cards have seen play in every deck since the game began. We believe that the game is the most fun when people are trying new things and experiencing new ideas. There’s a fine balance to hit there, where we don’t want these cards to be useless, but we also don’t want them to be the only things you play. Some classes feel pretty good on that front, and some feel on the extreme ends. Rogue is probably — they had an awesome set, and priest had too bad a set. Nathan Lyons-Smith: You see us addressing some of this in the Hall of Fame choices: Leeroy Jenkins, Mountain Giant, and Acolyte of Pain. Those things do still cause us to have to work around them, so pushing them into the Hall of Fame allows us to explore new things. GamesBeat: I was hoping that Mountain Giant and Leeroy would get in the Hall of Fame, but I was also hoping Edwin VanCleef would, too. It seems like every set, he comes back in some form or another to vex people. It’s time for rogue to do something else. Lee: Honestly, we feel similarly. Part of it is when it comes to class legendaries, we want there to be a replacement. Edwin fits into a good category for that at the moment. Edwin was definitely on our short list of things to do, and I would not be surprised if he was on our list in the future. We’ll see how things go for this next year, how rogue plays out. But he’s definitely a card that’s been hotly contested. It’s probably — if there would have been one more card on that list, it probably would have been him. Above: Mind Control Tech is now in Standard Hearthstone prison (aka Wild). GamesBeat: You said something interesting during the presentation, that Mind Control Tech no longer fits what you want when it comes to randomness in Hearthstone. What does that mean? Lee: I think that — it’s hard to define what’s good random and bad random. That’s something that’s very personal to most people. But the thing about Mind Control Tech is that it creates so many bad experiences and players remember those. They don’t remember the average result. They don’t remember the beneficial results. They remember the really bad ones. They remember when it took their 8/8, not their 1/1. Even though statistically it probably evens out, it creates a lot of negative feelings. That’s been compounded with the shaman quest, which makes it trigger twice. If you’re playing the game — at certain points in the game, it’s OK to have big power swings. If you’re at 9 and 10 mana, the cards at that level need to be doing something super impactful to be relevant. But at such a low mana cost, if you can put this thing down and it can steal an 8/8, it just doesn’t feel fun. That’s where everybody was. The point at which that thing occurs in the game in the mana curve, for the result and potential spread of payoffs, it’s just a combination of factors that make it feel pretty negative. We removed it from Arena previously for the same kind of reason. It just doesn’t fit our vision of the future in the game. GamesBeat: When you talk about randomness, there’s a little control for the player, like with mechanics such as Discovery. You pick one of the three cards it offers. With a spell like Cinder Storm, it does 5 random damage, but you can decide when to play it as a form of control. Mind Control Tech just grabs one of four. There’s nothing you can do besides isolating it to four minions. Lee: That’s very true. There are some cards that hit on this that we’re OK with. The Warrior’s Brawl would be a parallel to some degree. Brawl can end up in a situation where they lose everything, and you end up with your one minion, even though they have seven and you have one. But I think part of that more is that it’s a class card first of all, so it’s not something you can see across every build, so prevalence is generally lower. Warrior is about control, about board clears, so Brawl makes sense. In that case it’s often used at a point where they’re down in the game, whereas Mind Control can be used — they need to have a bunch of minions, but it’s not necessarily something you use to catch up all the time. It can be a “win more” sometimes as well. There are some things in the game that are similar, but I think even then, those — I would classify most of them as different to some degree. Mode movement GamesBeat: Has Battlegrounds cannibalized from your daily players in Standard or wild? Or are you finding that for your daily players, they’re playing both modes? Lee: A huge amount of our players engage in multiple modes. Our biggest modes are Standard and Battlegrounds. When it comes to [new] PvE content, for a short period of time that’s really big and loads of people play it, which I think you would expect. A new drop of PvE content, you play it, you’re done with it, and you move back to different modes. We’re really happy generally with seeing a lot of players playing both battleground and Standard. Where I personally play it, which is what we see happening a lot, is that people engage in some Standard, and then sometimes, just because of the nature of card games and decks, you might have a frustrating experience. You might lose a game. People don’t like to lose, shockingly. Then you might go play a game of Battlegrounds. The same is true the other way as well. You might have a game in Battlegrounds and lose, and then you just play Standard. We see people moving and mixing between them. Also, it depends on what we’re updating in the game as well. When we drop the new cards from the single player, a bunch of people go play Standard because there’s something new there. Obviously, when we release an expansion, that happens even more so. We’ve seen a lot of deep winback from players that churned out of the game two, three, even four years ago. That’s the biggest thing we’ve seen. We see a lot of people who played a lot of Hearthstone, and they’ve come back to check out this new way to play. That’s part of our strategy moving forward, providing these new different ways to play. Honestly, some of these people have played Hearthstone for 1,000, 2,000 hours. At this point they want something new, and that’s OK. We want to try to provide that. Above: Can my beasts beat The Lich Kings buffed-up minions? GamesBeat: It’s interesting that you say it’s bringing back people. My main question there is, are you finding that they’re just playing Battlegrounds, or are they getting back to Standard and Wild as well? Lee: We’ve seen a lot of people come back and just play Battlegrounds, yes. It’s not super-common that someone will come back to the game, play Battlegrounds, and then go to Arena. Arena has an upfront cost to enter, whereas Standard, you have a deck, and you probably have some cards or currency left over to make one. Not everyone has the specific amount of gold required for Arena tickets. Arena is honestly a pretty challenging mode to get into at this point in the game flow cycle. Generally, we see — we want people to come back and play Battlegrounds. It’s totally free and easy to get into. Some of those people have gone on to play Standard, and we think with the launch of demon hunter and the big revamp to our rank system, a bunch of people will do the same thing for Standard. Selling packs, 6 years in Above: Hearthstone’s welcome bundle comes with a dragon legendary. Blizzard is experimenting with bundles now. GamesBeat: For some time, your release tempo has been: Dungeon Run-based expansions, then adventure, and now back to another different type of single-player mode. Do you find, as you jump through these different single-player modes, do your monetization strategies change quarter-by-quarter, release-by-release, or is consistent with what you’re offering in single-player? Lee: We’ve tried to hit the same price point. With Tombs of Terror we did a bit lower, because we wanted to make the last chapter free. It was this special boss encounter. It didn’t feel right charging extra for that. While it’s a cool fun encounter, it didn’t feel the same as a full chapter. That’s the only exception to that. We generally wanted that experience to be $20. With the Dalaran Heist, we massively overprovided on value. If you add it up to get all the achievements and checkmarks, it’s around 1,000 hours of content. It’s huge. Even as a normal player, it’s hundreds of hours. You get a bunch of card packs and card backs and the Golden Zayle. We were super-happy with the value for money offering from that. Same with Tombs of Terror and with the latest Galakrond’s Awakening. Some players might see it as a paywall for cards, but the dollar value that you get in terms of cards, it’s one of the best value propositions you can have in Hearthstone. You get something like $50 or more worth of card value for $20, plus you get all the content. Generally we want to provide good value for money, and that’s why we’ve done the card pack changes as well. We want players to feel happy with what they’re purchasing, feel like they got good value for money. GamesBeat: Have you found that with some people playing more Battlegrounds than Standard, that it’s hurting individual pack sales? Lee: No. We’re actually quite happy with where the game is at the moment. We had a recent investor call where we showed positive results first thing. We’re happy with where the game is at at the moment. GamesBeat: When it comes to monetization, what is more important to the company right now? Monetizing off expansions or pack sales? Lee: Not dodging the question, though I sound like it, but the most important thing to us is actually engagement. The reality is that if people are playing our game and enjoying it, they’re probably going to purchase something, and we want that thing to be something that’s fair and good to them, so they don’t feel like they regret purchasing. I think the key thing for us is we want to make cool expansions, make cool content. Going into the future with other game modes, one of the core things we want to do, and it’s really hard, is we want it to use your collection in a very positive way. You pay let’s say $80 for the preorder for the expansion, you can play the cards in Standard, and there are other game modes we release throughout the next year that will leverage your collection in a positive way. Not where you feel like, oh, I need to buy more cards. It’s more like, month one, you have Standard, month two you have something else that uses your cards in an inventive and fun way, the ones you already have. Does Arena matter? Above: I play Arena almost every day, and I feel like it’s an afterthought. GamesBeat: When it comes to Arena, it’s starting to feel like an afterthought. Is this because it’s not monetizing anymore, or is it because it doesn’t have an internal champion at Blizzard? Lee: Both of those things are not true. It does monetize. We have a very dedicated core player base for Arena. Vocally, people posting may not be happy about that, but we see in our data that a bunch of people are very happy playing Arena. Also, there are people on our design team who are very involved in the Arena work that happens. We tried some changes with bucket stuff in various different ways. The reality of that is that stuff’s really complicated and difficult to get right. It’s also very challenging to test. You need to do massive testing and figure out how all those decks work and how they generate. The core things that are missing from Arena — if Arena had a simple rating system like Battleground, it would add a huge amount to the game. It’s one thing we think about doing. We just have to weigh all the different costs of all the development stuff we’re doing. It’s something we may do at some time, but we also have other things we definitely need to do as well. GamesBeat: Since Demon Hunter is coming to Arena, that means you’re not killing the mode. Lee: No! If we were going to do anything with Arena, it would probably — rather than kill it, we would reinvigorate and rework it in some way. There are a bunch of people — let’s say there is a core player base. This isn’t 10 or 15 people. It’s a large amount of people. There are millions of people playing Hearthstone every day, and Arena, off the top of my head I can’t remember a specific number, but it’s hundreds of thousands. It’s not our biggest game mode, but there are lots of — the reality is the number is a large amount. It’s not 10,000 or 5,000, it’s hundreds of thousands. It’s a huge amount of people, but that’s not close to the number of people that play Standard and so on. (Season) pass plays and other strategies GamesBeat: Have you given any serious thought to implementing a season pass or monthly pass for Hearthstone? Lee: Yes. I think that the way that we — we’ve talked about it a bunch. There’s a bunch of positives, and also negatives. One of the negatives is you introduce a treadmill, the player promotions you need to complete it. If you don’t complete it, what we’ve seen in a lot of other games is people actually drop out. We don’t want Hearthstone to feel like a job, something you have to come to and fill this bar. We do have a plan to reward some progression right now, one of the things we detailed in the road map. That isn’t a battle pass or something, it’s more our own envisaging of a reward system. It’s not like, this month you need to do these things or you don’t get this stuff. It’s probably more of a permanent thing, where you can take your time and achieve things in your own way. That’s how we want people to play Hearthstone. We don’t want them to feel like they’re under pressure to do this thing in this way. You can do things your way in your own time and feel good about it. GamesBeat: Other games are selling far more cosmetics than Hearthstone does. Have you thought about ramping this up? Lee: Vanity is hard to do well in a card game. The biggest thing that we can do — some of the biggest things we can possibly do are heroes and card backs. We want to do those, and this past year we launched our thousand-win hero portraits. Those are kind of light hero skins compared to the ones that come with the prepurchases. I’m really happy with those. A lot of players are using them. Everyone has their own favorites. Some people don’t like certain artwork. That’s always going to be the feedback. But we see them being used a lot, which to us means that a lot of people care about them. I could definitely see us introducing more things in that vein, on that front. In terms of a holistic huge cosmetic system, the reality for me, I worked on a game previously called Gwent, and we invested a lot into vanity and customization. Players, in reality, I think the choices — you can spend your money on card packs and get cards, or you can spend it on vanity. You’re probably going to get card packs. GamesBeat: You’re doing something new when it comes with the mage bundle. Why did you decide to do class-specific cards as bundles, and why start with mage? Lee: Mage is the first class that people play. It felt like a good jumping-off point for that. Also, we released Khadgar with it as well, so it just made sense. The class packs are something we’re really interested to see how people feel about them. We think it’s another way to make the game cheaper and more approachable for people. Not everyone, but a lot of players — the average classes played is about 2.3. Obviously that’s an average. Class packs are a great way to — if you’re super-invested in that class, those class packs are a great value for money deal to you. As a player, you have limited amounts of resources, and you have a choice. You can buy this 20-card pack bundle of cards that might give you nothing that’s useful to you, or you might choose this mage card pack, because you play mage and it’s your favorite class. Every card, with the card pack changes and no duplicates as well, in theory every card’s going to be useful for you. Above: Fortunately, Hearthstone’s tavern is almost always open in these times of essential business shutdowns. GamesBeat: Was this change based on feedback from players, or was it just something you came up with internally? Lee: My perception, from the conversations I’ve had — the way we’ve worked on some features is we have a kind of strike team that’s responsible for things. Battlegrounds, we pushed a lot of responsibility and decision-making down to the team. They worked really passionately on it, and they cared a lot about it, and that’s super awesome. We did the same thing with the new shop feature. It’s not as exciting a project to talk about as Battlegrounds, which is super-awesome amazing gameplay, but the team that worked on the shop had a really awesome job. We empowered them to think of, what products would you like to sell? What do you think would be good for players? One suggestion was class packs. That’s where it came from. Also, another thing that we wanted to do that we felt was important was giving the ability to get wild content from there as well, especially thinking about that future where that wild content is potentially something that could be relevant for a bunch of different game modes. It’s also just a bad player experience if you want to buy wild content. You’d go to the web shop and do it, and that’s not a good player experience. Lyons-Smith: Class packs, to Ben’s point — it was totally, hey, strike team, come up with cool things you want to do. They identified a bunch of different types of packs they’d like. You’ve actually seen two of them now. Year of the Dragon packs, using this new pack to define what should be in this type of packs, give it more art assets and different content there. Mage packs are another one, and you can imagine we’re going to create different types of that. Add some variety and interest to what we’re offering to different types of players. Zephrys, retooling, and reloading GamesBeat: How much work goes into teaching Zephrys how to deal with a new class? Note to readers here that Nathan is scratching his forehead. Lee: A lot. Generally, there are times to invest in a card that’s worthwhile because it’s the tentpole of the set. Zephrys was that. Therefore the investment was worthwhile. We can’t do that for every card, obviously. In terms of the specific days, I’m not sure, but it was — making Zephrys work in general, making him pretty good — there are situations where he’s not perfect, but we’re generally happy with how he’s worked out. We’ve seen good positive feedback about him. He’s very useful. He also is a great counter card in many ways. I’m a big fan of counter cards. Personally, I think the game is a back-and-forth, and if you can’t interact with your opponent’s strategy, that’s not the most exciting gameplay. Zephrys definitely gives a window to interact with each other. Lyon: Zephrys is looking at the board state to analyze what’s going on, so it does need to understand the mechanics of what’s on the board, but it doesn’t know anything about what’s in their hand. It doesn’t do anything with what’s in your hand either. It did need to learn a few mechanics. We taught it those to be successful. Above: Kul Thiran Chaplain is one of Priest’s new cards as part of the class’s retooling. GamesBeat: In hindsight, was it good to introduce all these new priest cards and retooling that class along with demon hunter, a new expansion, and teaching Zephrys all at once? Lee: We can’t be beholden to something that exists in the game with what we want to do. It’s totally worth it. That’s more of a thing about, was Zephrys worth the time and effort? I think he was. It was cool. But we wouldn’t want to hamstring ourselves with future stuff because of something in the past like that. We’re trying to make the best fun things for our players. I wouldn’t want to not do the priest stuff or whatever the case may be. GamesBeat: After the 2019 layoffs, there was talk from Activision Blizzard about hiring a bunch of new people for its team, for reinvesting into development. Then we get Battlegrounds and the rank refresh and the priest refresh and a new class. Is all of this the fruit of those extra people that have come in? Lyons-Smith: I don’t know that there’s a one-to-one mapping there. I don’t remember all the talking points for the layoffs from a year ago, in terms of how resources were being shifted around. But generally, yes, dev was more of a focus at that point. It had to do with other games coming in the future as well, not just Hearthstone. At that point last year I don’t think we’d announced Overwatch 2 or Diablo IV, and as you can imagine, resources were going to those teams to build them up as well. Lee: More of it is just, we’ve tried to get the team passionately engaged about making content and doing these different things. Strike teams is a way to do that. It’s been super effective. Our leadership team and the team in general — the game is at a point in its age where we have to try new things. We love this game and we want it to continue to be awesome and successful. Therefore, making sure we do cool things for players is the way forward. That’s been our big push. We hope players will be happy with it. Tweaking the card economy GamesBeat: The economy is going to get a huge change with the way you’re doing duplicate protection. Does this mean you’ll see more pack purchases, or does it mean people will be getting the cards they want? Lee: Overall, if you add everything up, it’s cheaper, if you want to get everything. In general we want people to have useful options. There are some extreme examples that sound silly, but our game has so many players that it exists. It’s not small numbers that they exist. I’ll give you a couple of examples. There are players out there who, when they do their prepurchase — let’s say they get eight epics, and four of them are the same thing. They just massively miss out on economy. Even though you get value for dusting, you get a poorer return than if you got a card you would use. We are trying to shave off the probability ends that are really unfair and bad for people. There’s a famous video of Bolf Ramshield legendary, which you may have seen — how many copies does he get? Lyon: It’s either five or seven. [ It’s six — ed. ] Lee: Some guy opens a lot of packs and he gets [six] copies of the same legendary. This is before the legendary drop change. We want to eliminate scenarios like that across all rarities. We also just want the game to be more approachable and easy to get into. As an average player, when you open a card pack, if you get something new, we think that’s more fun and exciting and engaging. We talk about this average of 2.3 classes. We want people to have choice, and giving them cards that they don’t have in theory means they’re more likely to have things they want. GamesBeat: Isn’t this also a huge move when it comes to the goodwill of your players? This is something people have asked for for a long time. Lee: Hopefully. We hope players will be happy with it. We passionately think it’s the right thing to do for the game. Ranking matters GamesBeat: Why do the rank refresh now, adding tiers like what we had early in Hearthstone’s beta days? Lee: For me personally, I think that — things like ranking systems, they generally want to be refreshed. It’s hard to determine a good time, but some period of time. Let’s say every two or three years or whatever the case may be. Change can be healthy. It can be good and engaging and fun. A lot of games out there, they refresh the systems after a certain period of time, and that’s where we’re at at the moment. Hearthstone’s rank system has done a lot of good for us. There’s definitely some elements that we want to improve on, and also add new flavor. Who knows? Maybe three years from now we’ll revamp the rank system again. Change, evolution, updating, and improving: It’s something we as a team very much believe in now and want. That’s how we’re looking at it in the future. It’s about giving players something new and exciting and engaging to do. Again, coming back to how easy the game is to get into financially, we’ve added first time rewards for all the rank floors. If you’re playing through the system, the first time you reach a rank floor, you’ll get a pretty generous reward, and those compound over time. It’s not just monthly. There are also special first time rewards. GamesBeat: Do these new tiers take away what appears to be some of the work from laddering? For example, going from bronze to silver probably feels better than just going from 20 to 15. Lee: Absolutely. Phrasing and terminology-wise — something we think about a lot, your rank — I can’t remember the exact numbers, but if you’re ranked 3, that’s the top 1 percent of Hearthstone. Rank 15 is probably top 75 percent. Rank 15 sounds pretty bad, but you’re actually really pretty good if you’re at rank 15 in reality. Part of the medal tiers, assigning the way they work, it’s really about our players feeling good about the rank. If you’re Gold 1, it sounds better than if you’re rank 13. We want players to feel better about where they are, but also we wanted the system to be — it’s more progressive. The idea is you should be moving forward a lot of the time until you reach the point you’re supposed to be at, and then it should be more of a challenge and you have to fight the way to get up there. GamesBeat: A number of people — fans, media, and such — have said this has been the best year for Hearthstone: in Standard, the addition of Battlegrounds, the game feels really good in many different ways. From what you showed us today, it looks like you’re going to probably make it better next year, this next Standard year. Do you see the potential for that, and do you agree that this past year was Hearthstone’s best? Lee: It’s hard to say. The first year was awesome, because everything was fresh and new. The reality is that we’re a little bit standing on the shoulders of giants that created the original game, Eric Dodds and Ben Brode and Derek Sakamoto and a bunch of other people. They were super-instrumental in making that happen. There was definitely a period of time in between then and now where the game could have maybe used a few more features and additions. We’re at a point now where we think that’s important for players. We want to give them new things to do. There’s been a few missteps in Year of the Dragon, definitely some things to learn from. We’re happy with a lot of what happened too. For Year of the Phoenix we hope we can deliver some awesome experiences. There’s something on the road map that we haven’t talked about yet, that we hope can deliver, that will be a cool surprise as well. We want there to be lots of stuff for players to do and engage with. We hope they’ll be happy. GamesBeat's creed when covering the game industry is "where passion meets business." What does this mean? We want to tell you how the news matters to you -- not just as a decision-maker at a game studio, but also as a fan of games. Whether you read our articles, listen to our podcasts, or watch our videos, GamesBeat will help you learn about the industry and enjoy engaging with it. Discover our Briefings. Join the GamesBeat community! Enjoy access to special events, private newsletters and more. VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"GameRefinery acquires app insight platform Reflection.io | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2020/01/30/gamerefinery-acquires-app-insight-platform-reflection-io"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages GameRefinery acquires app insight platform Reflection.io Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Markus Råmark, CEO at GameRefinery Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship. Learn more. Mobile game insight and analytics specialist GameRefinery has acquired United Kingdom-based market insight platform Reflection.io. The terms of the deal were not disclosed. Based in Finland, GameRefinery helps mobile game developers, investors, and marketers delve into the building blocks of mobile games to uncover the drivers behind success, including feature analysis, re-engagement mechanics, demographics, visual analysis, and monetization design. GameRefinery’s database has more than 10,000 top-performing games. The acquisition of Reflection.io gives GameRefinery the capability to provide additional revenue and download data for iOS and Android games spanning 35 markets, on top of its feature-level insights. Reflection.io’s platform uses statistical algorithms that predict revenues combined with download figures from publicly available data and transactional sales data shared by publishers and developers. Event GamesBeat at the Game Awards We invite you to join us in LA for GamesBeat at the Game Awards event this December 7. Reserve your spot now as space is limited! Markus Råmark, the CEO at GameRefinery, said in a statement that having the right data matters to any successful mobile game publisher. And combining Reflection.io’s data around installs and app revenues with GameRefinery’s data on game features and engagement will give publishers something they haven’t had before: actionable data connecting features to monetization. Since launching in 2013, Reflection.io has worked with customers such as Square Enix, Miniclip, Sky, BBC, Wooga, Endemol and Sega. The plan is to incorporate Reflection.io’s capabilities into the GameRefinery portal over the coming months. In the meantime, the current platform will remain fully operational and accessible to existing customers. GameRefinery has 25 employees, and its headquarters is in Helsinki. In an email, Råmark said there are no direct competitors for the complete offering of what the combined companies can do. Råmark added: The trick here is the combination of different datasets which are unique for GameRefinery. By combining revenue and downloads data with GameRefinery’s genre taxonomy and feature level mobile game data we are able to provide our clients with a holistic and unique combination, which they cannot get from anywhere else. We are able to tie this data into features and explain what are the features for example in different genres that drive the most revenue. We do the same for example with demographics, so we are able to tell which game features appeal to different demographics. This acquisition is part of our strategy to expand our data offering to new areas in the mobile game-related data and transform into a big data company – not just a SaaS platform. We have also invested a lot in the automated data and machine learning within the past year, which will be seen in our new upcoming products and data offering this year. We will keep utilizing our unique datasets and building new data offerings on top of those. Our feature level data allows us to build new models and datasets fast to cover new areas and this is also a competitive advantage to us compared to anyone else wanting to enter this domain. We also have a patent for the whole feature mapping and building a correlation with game features and the games commercial success, which is how we started the whole company in the first place. GamesBeat's creed when covering the game industry is "where passion meets business." What does this mean? We want to tell you how the news matters to you -- not just as a decision-maker at a game studio, but also as a fan of games. Whether you read our articles, listen to our podcasts, or watch our videos, GamesBeat will help you learn about the industry and enjoy engaging with it. Discover our Briefings. Join the GamesBeat community! Enjoy access to special events, private newsletters and more. VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"D-Wave: Quantum computing and machine learning are 'extremely well matched' | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2020/03/12/d-wave-quantum-computing-and-machine-learning-are-extremely-well-matched"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages D-Wave: Quantum computing and machine learning are ‘extremely well matched’ Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Are you ready to bring more awareness to your brand? Consider becoming a sponsor for The AI Impact Tour. Learn more about the opportunities here. Following D-Wave’s announcement of Leap 2 , a new version of its quantum cloud service for building and deploying quantum computing applications, VentureBeat had the opportunity to sit down with Murray Thom, D-Wave’s VP of software and cloud services. We naturally talked about Leap 2, including the improvements the company hopes it will bring for businesses and developers. But we also discussed the business applications D-Wave has already seen to date. Quantum computing leverages qubits to perform computations that would be much more difficult, or simply not feasible, for a classical computer. Based in Burnaby, Canada, D-Wave was the first company to sell commercial quantum computers, which are built to use quantum annealing. Applications include everything from cryptography and optimization to machine learning and materials science. In fact, D-Wave has a webpage dedicated to quantum computing applications including airline scheduling, election modeling, quantum chemistry simulation, automotive design, preventative health care, logistics, and more. Thom explained that D-Wave has seen success particularly with optimization and machine learning use cases. And he has the data to back it up: D-Wave’s customer applications are about 50% optimization, 20% AI and ML, 10% materials science, and 20% other. Optimization vs. machine learning Optimization applications leading the pack makes sense because they’re currently largely solved using brute force and raw computing power. If quantum computers can quickly see all the possible solutions, an optimal solution can become apparent more quickly. “Optimization stands out because it’s much more intuitive and easier to grasp,” Thom added. VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! Another reason optimization is ahead comes down to the interested parties. “The community of people who can incorporate optimization and robust optimization is much, much larger,” Thom explained. “The machine learning community — the congruence between the technology and the needs are very technical; they’re only applicable to statisticians. And there’s a much smaller community of statisticians in the world than there are of programmers.” In particular, the complexity of incorporating quantum computing into the machine learning workflow presents an obstacle. “For machine learning practitioners and researchers, it’s very easy to figure out how to program the system. Fitting that into a machine learning workflow is more challenging because machine learning programs are becoming quite multifaceted,” he said. “But our teams in the past have published a lot of research on how to incorporate it in a training workflow that makes sense.” Indeed, Thom noted that ML practitioners currently want someone else to handle the quantum computing part: “When I’ve gone out and talked to the machine learners, they’re looking for somebody else to do the legwork of building the frameworks up to the extensions and showing that it can fit.” Adoption will take time Nonetheless, Thom believes quantum computing and machine learning are “extremely well matched. The features the technology has and the needs of the field are very close.” “It’s something I think is going to be a very productive use of the technology in the future because there’s so many aspects of what the quantum computers can do in terms of the probabilistic sampling,” Thom continued. “For optimization, the probabilistic sampling is like ‘oh, I can do robust optimization with that.’ But for machine learning it’s essential for what you need to do. It’s very hard to reproduce that with a classical computer and you get it natively from the quantum computer. So those features can’t be accidental. It’s just that it’s going to take time for the community to find the right methods for incorporating it and then for the technology to insert into that space productively.” We’ve seen AI and quantum computing collide before , but this is a much bigger nod of approval. Still, D-Wave is just one quantum computing company. We reached out to a few others to find out if they had seen similar numbers. Rigetti doesn’t have a breakdown of use cases its customers fall into. IonQ explained that while it is helping companies most notably across energy, pharma, and manufacturing, it also does not have an exact breakdown of customers by use case. IBM did not respond in time for publishing. D-Wave says that quantum computing and machine learning are a good fit. If you think otherwise, let us know. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Amazon becomes a $1 trillion company, 1 month after Apple | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2018/09/04/amazon-becomes-a-1-trillion-company-1-month-after-apple"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Amazon becomes a $1 trillion company, 1 month after Apple Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn The Amazon logo is seen at the Young Entrepreneurs fair in Paris Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship. Learn more. Amazon has become the second U.S. company to hit a market capitalization of $1 trillion, after its share price briefly edged past the $2,050 mark this morning. The ecommerce giant’s shares opened today at $2,026.50, but they quickly rose to a high of $2,050.50 before dropping again to around the $2,040 mark where it currently sits. Above: Amazon market cap The milestone moment comes less than a week after Amazon shares hit $2,000 for the first time , with speculation subsequently mounting on when the Seattle firm would join Apple in the exclusive trillion-dollar club. Indeed, Apple became the first U.S. company — and second globally — to hit a market capitalization of $1 trillion just last month, as debates raged for months on which of the two companies would be first to reach the landmark figure. Amazon’s shares have doubled in the past 12 months and tripled in two years. Last Thursday, as Amazon hit $2,000 per share, it was just 2.5 percent off hitting a $1 trillion market cap, but achieving that growth in just five days is perhaps quicker than many would have predicted. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Amazon will limit ‘non-essential’ orders in France and Italy under coronavirus strain | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2020/03/23/amazon-will-limit-non-essential-orders-in-france-and-italy-under-coronavirus-strain"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Amazon will limit ‘non-essential’ orders in France and Italy under coronavirus strain Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Amazon employees on strike gather outside the Amazon distribution center warehouse in Saran, France, March 18, 2020. Are you ready to bring more awareness to your brand? Consider becoming a sponsor for The AI Impact Tour. Learn more about the opportunities here. Coronavirus quarantines are starting to place pressure on ecommerce companies like Amazon as people increasingly turn to online shopping. In response, Amazon has announced that it will no longer ship what it considers to be non-essential items in France and Italy. “We will temporarily stop taking orders on some non-essential products on Amazon.it and Amazon.fr,” the company said in a statement to Reuters. “This lets fulfillment center associates focus on receiving and shipping the products customers need most at this time.” As with many companies that offer some kind of delivery, Amazon has seen a sharp increase in orders since COVID-19 exploded across Italy and France announced a 15-day quarantine period last week. With millions of people confined to their homes, the pandemic is testing the digital infrastructure, forcing several streaming services to lower their bitrates to ease congestion. But that strain is starting to be felt on the physical side, as well. In France, grocery chains such as Monoprix and Carrefour have been struggling to keep up with demand for grocery deliveries and have been reminding shoppers that their stores remain well stocked and open. Workers on the front lines are also growing anxious. Last week, more than 250 workers at an Amazon distribution center in Saran, France staged a protest against pressure they felt to stay at work even as the rest of the country was under quarantine. According to Reuters , the employees wanted Amazon to either close the distribution center or make it easier for more employees to work from home. The situation prompted criticism from France’s Economic Minister Bruno Le Maire. In a radio interview , Le Maire said, “These pressures are unacceptable — we’ll let Amazon know.” Part of the employees’ argument was that many of the items they were packing were not groceries, and therefore not immediately essential. The latest announcement suggests Amazon has responded to those concerns. The company said it would continue delivery of products related to babies, health, household items, beauty care, pets, and — of course — groceries. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Amazon debuts AWS Inf1, an AI inference instance | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/12/03/amazon-debuts-aws-inf1-an-ai-inference-instance"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Amazon debuts AWS Inf1, an AI inference instance Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn AWS CEO Andy Jassy onstage at re:Invent in Las Vegas on December 3, 2019. Are you ready to bring more awareness to your brand? Consider becoming a sponsor for The AI Impact Tour. Learn more about the opportunities here. Amazon Web Services today debuted Inf1, an instance that powers AI inference in the cloud that CEO Andy Jassy calls the lowest cost inference offering available in the cloud. “[I]t will have lower latency, it will have 3 times higher throughput, and up to 40% lower cost per instance compared to our G4 instance, which is based on an Nvidia chip which previously was the lowest cost inference instance in the cloud,” Jassy said. The vast majority of costs for operations using cloud services to power AI solutions comes from inference, Jassy said onstage today at the AWS re:Invent conference in Las Vegas. The news follows the release of the Elastic Inference service and plans to release the Inferentia AI chip. Inf1 will also be powered by the Inferentia chip made by Annapurna Labs, an Israeli company AWS acquired in 2015. VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! Inf1 instances are generally available today and will integrate with PyTorch, MXNet, and TensorFlow. Inf1 will be made available for EKS instances and Amazon’s SageMaker for machine learning in 2020. The news was announced today onstage at AWS re:Invent alongside Graviton2, a 7-nanometer, 64-bit chip made to rival Intel’s X86 in data centers. Jassy said Graviton 2 will power M6G, R6G, and C6G instances. Graviton 2 will have 4 times more compute and 40% better price performance than Intel’s X86 processors, Jassy said. News of a new AWS data center chip first emerged last week. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Orion Labs raises $18.25 million for real-time translation assistant | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2017/09/06/orion-labs-raises-18-25-million-for-real-time-translation-assistant"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Orion Labs raises $18.25 million for real-time translation assistant Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn The Onyx device for translation from Orion Labs Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship. Learn more. Orion Labs today announced the closure of an $18.25 million funding round to expand the size of its sales team and continue development of its Onyx device and Orion platform for voice-powered bots. Developements include a new real-time translator, which currently focuses on conversations in English and Spanish. Mandarin Chinese is likely next, Orion Labs CEO Jesse Robbins told VentureBeat in a phone interview. Orion Labs makes voice-powered bots for the workplace that are designed to answer the kinds of repetitive questions employees need answers to in order to do their job. Robbins described the Onyx smart walkie-talkie device as being like the communicator badge on Star Trek , but for mobile employees in industries like transportation, logistics, food service, construction, and emergency services. “Rather than asking somebody to go check the stock in the back of a store, they’re able just to say ‘Hey is this item in stock?’ and they get an answer either from an Orion bot or one we helped them build,” he said. VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! Another popular application of Orion Labs bots is for status or location reports for those who manage workers in health care and construction. Orion Labs was created by Robbins and cofounder Greg Albrecht. The two have worked in software and startups, but they’re also emergency medical technicians (EMT). They made Onyx to answer the simple but important questions they needed to do to their jobs. In most cases, Robbins said, line-level employees already know the questions they need help answering on a regular basis. In their case, it was things like, “Is there a hospital in the bay?” “Is this hospital open?” “Can we send a patient there?” “This doesn’t require general-purpose AI. It’s really a little more specific, where you’re able to say, ‘We just want to provide helpful answers in real time to people that are doing really important work’,” he said. To answer questions, Orion Labs’ bots plug into both real-time databases and spreadsheets maintained by customers. Robbins declined to state the number of clients Orion Labs works with today, but customers range from local governments and small businesses to multinational corporations. To fuel its bots’ translation and speech understanding, Orion Labs uses a mashup of AI services from companies like Microsoft, Google, and IBM Watson. The $18.25 million funding round was led by Allen & Company LLC, with participation from Argentum, The Thermo Companies, Fuel Capital, and a collection of private individuals. Since its launch in 2013, Orion Labs has raised about $30 million. The company has 50 employees and is based in San Francisco. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Samsung starts mass-producing 5G- and AI-ready 12Gb LPDDR5 DRAM chips | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/07/18/samsung-starts-mass-producing-5g-and-ai-ready-12gb-lpddr5-dram-chips"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Samsung starts mass-producing 5G- and AI-ready 12Gb LPDDR5 DRAM chips Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship. Learn more. As wireless networks and mobile CPUs become faster, the speed of the RAM used in portable devices can actually become a performance bottleneck, preventing them from processing data at peak speeds. Samsung is doing its part to accelerate the performance of next-generation mobile devices, as the company today announced it has started mass production of 12-Gigabit LPDDR5 DRAM modules designed to enable “5G and AI features in future smartphones.” Though the announcement is important for a number of reasons, the most significant is Samsung’s major role in providing memory to other mobile device makers — its DRAM can be found in not only its own Galaxy phones and tablets, but also in Apple’s iPhones and rival Android devices. An improvement to Samsung memory therefore impacts flagships from multiple companies and signals the general direction everyone will be taking in the near future. The new LPDDR5 modules deliver data rates of 5,500Mbps, a roughly 30% improvement over the 4,266Mbps LPDDR4X memory used in top-end smartphones today — including the first round of 5G smartphones based on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 855 processor, which peaks at LPDDR4X support. Samsung says the new DRAM will enable ultra high-definition video recording and AI-powered machine learning features with substantially improved device battery life, drawing 30% less power compared with prior DRAM. LPDDR5’s higher speed will depend upon the next generation of mobile processors, conceivably enabling the transfer of 44GB of data — enough to store 12 1080p movies — in one second. That speed is based on eight 12-Gigabit LPDDR5 chips being bundled together as a 12-Gigabyte (GB) package, a process Samsung says it will begin later this month, following the start of 6GB module production last month. The company plans to create 16-Gigabit LPDDR5 chips next year. VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! In other words, users of next-generation mobile devices should expect to see not only speed and battery life increases, but dramatic jumps in the quantity of memory. Today’s top smartphones commonly have fewer than 8GB of RAM, and in some cases — such as the iPhone XR and iPhone XS — only 3-4GB. The next rounds of 5G phones powered by Samsung LPDDR5 RAM will typically ship with 6GB or 12GB configurations, followed next year by 8GB and 16GB configurations. “With mass production of the 12Gb LPDDR5 built on Samsung’s latest second-generation 10-nanometer class process,” said Samsung DRAM EVP Jung-bae Lee, “we are thrilled to be supporting the timely launch of 5G flagship smartphones for our customers worldwide. Samsung remains committed to rapidly introducing next-generation mobile memory technologies that deliver greater performance and higher capacity, as we continue to aggressively drive growth of the premium memory market.” Samsung originally announced 8GB LPDDR5 modules last year, targeting a peak speed of 6,400Mbps, enough to transfer 14 1080p movies in a second, but those modules apparently didn’t enter mass production. As the new 6GB and 12GB modules are both specified at 5,500Mbps, it’s possible that next year will see mass-produced 8GB and 16GB modules at even faster speeds. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Microsoft furthers $5 billion IoT plan with new Azure features | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/10/28/microsoft-furthers-5-billion-iot-plan-with-new-azure-features"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Microsoft furthers $5 billion IoT plan with new Azure features Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship. Learn more. The ballooning internet of things (IoT) segment shows no sign of slowing down. According to IDC, 41.6 billion devices — including smartphones, smart home assistants, and appliances — will be connected to the internet by 2025. And by 2022, the market is anticipated to be worth $24.88 billion, growing with a 19.75% compound annual interest rate. In an effort to capture a larger slice of it, at IoT Solutions World Congress today Microsoft announced new capabilities in Azure to “simplify” customer journeys and deliver “highly secured” IoT solutions. Azure IoT CVP Sam George said in a blog post that these are intended to help drive better business outcomes across its Azure IoT software-as-a-service (SaaS) suite, which is growing nearly 150% year-over-year and gained over 100 new features this past year. Microsoft said last April that it intends to set aside $5 billion in IoT and the intelligent edge over the next four years, a substantial uptick from the $1.5 billion it spent on those initiatives prior to 2018. It’s an investment that’s already been put toward acquisitions like that of real-time operating systems developer Express Logic , and it’s likely to pay dividends. By 2020, Gartner predicts there will be more than 20 billion connected devices, and it’s estimated that 9 billion MCU-powered devices are built and deployed globally every year. “We live in an increasingly connected world,” he said. “At Microsoft, we are committed to providing a trusted, easy-to-use platform that allows our customers and partners to build seamless, smart, and secure solutions regardless of where they are in their IoT journey.” VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! Azure IoT Central Microsoft’s Azure IoT Central , a cloud service that enables customers to quickly provision and deploy IoT apps, is gaining a number of capabilities targeting development scenarios. Now, admins can define custom user roles for fine-grained access control to data, actions, and configurations, and they’re able to build and manage a single app with multiple tenants, each with their own isolated data, devices, users, and roles. In related developments, beefed-up API and IoT Edge support for device modelling, provisioning, life cycle management, operations, and data querying allows users to extend IoT Central or integrate it with other solutions. It complements 11 new industry-focused app templates in retail, healthcare, government, and energy categories, along with newfound data export options and the ability to save and load apps for repeatability. Lastly, Microsoft says it will roll out a new Azure IoT Central pricing model in early 2020 to “provide customers and partners predictable pricing as usage scales.” Azure IoT Hub By way of a refresher, Azure IoT Hub is a cloud service for registering, managing, and communicating with internet-connected devices. It launched out of public preview in 2016, and Microsoft is bolstering it with two new features this morning: IoT Hub message enrichment and integration with Azure Event Grid. IoT Hub message enrichment adds the ability to append messages with rich information before they are sent in order to streamline downstream processing and deliver insights. As for the Azure Event Grid integration, it’s aimed at making it easier to send device telemetry events to Azure and third-party services. Microsoft says that both will launch in general availability by the end of November. Azure Maps Not to be outdone, Microsoft’s Azure Maps , a collection of geospatial services that use mapping data to provide geographic context to web and mobile apps, has been lightly refreshed. It now more tightly integrates with Microsoft’s Power BI business analytics service, and it’s available to customers of Government Cloud, a platform designed to meet the security and compliance requirements of U.S. federal, state, and local governments. Additionally, courtesy of a partnership with Accuweather, Azure Maps customers can imbue apps with geospatial weather intelligence in order to enable weather-based routing, targeted marketing, and operations optimization scenarios. “This is a game-changer,” said AccuWeather founder and CEO Dr. Joel N. Myers in a statement. “This opens up new opportunities for organizations large and small to benefit from our superior weather data based on their unique needs.” Azure Time Series Insights and Azure Sphere Azure Time Series Insights is a fully managed analytics, storage, and visualization service for exploring and analyzing billions of IoT events. Its last major refresh arrived last year, and it’s gaining a slew of new storage and analytics features in the coming weeks. Support for multi-layered storage will enable access to both frequently used data (“warm data”) and infrequently used historical data (“cold data”). On the cold data front, historical data is stored in Azure Storage accounts and in the open source Apache Parquet format, allowing for predictive analytics, machine learning, and other custom computations using Spark, Databricks, Jupyter, and other data science toolsets. Now, Azure Time Series Insights boasts rich query APIs and user experience supported interpolation, as well as scalar and aggregate functions, categorical variables, scatter plots, and time shifting between time series signals. And there’s a new connector to Power BI that lets customers take queries from Time Series Insights into Power BI for a unified view. As for Azure Sphere , Microsoft’s Linux-based operating system created for microcontroller-powered devices, the company today said that it will be generally available in February 2020. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Microsoft, White House, and Allen Institute release coronavirus data set for medical and NLP researchers | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2020/03/16/microsoft-white-house-and-allen-institute-release-coronavirus-data-set-for-medical-and-nlp-researchers"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Microsoft, White House, and Allen Institute release coronavirus data set for medical and NLP researchers Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Are you ready to bring more awareness to your brand? Consider becoming a sponsor for The AI Impact Tour. Learn more about the opportunities here. The COVID-19 Open Research Dataset (CORD-19) , a repository of more than 29,000 scholarly articles on the coronavirus family from around the world, is being released today for free. The data set is the result of work by Microsoft Research, the Allen Institute for AI, the National Library of Medicine at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the White House Office of Science and Technology (OSTP), and others. It includes machine-readable research from more than 13,000 scholarly articles. The aim is to empower the medical and machine learning research communities to mine text data for insights that can help fight COVID-19. “The White House worked with the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine and the World Health Organization to identify dozens of high-priority scientific questions related to COVID-19 to inform the call to action,” White House CTO Michael Kratsios said today in a teleconference call. “Artificial intelligence can be incredibly powerful to help scientists summarize and analyze the information.” The corpus of data comes with a call to action urging AI researchers to create data and text mining techniques to assist medical researchers. Increased data sharing and collaboration among scientific professionals could certainly play a role in combating COVID-19. “Our goal in creating this open data set and [Kaggle] Q&A challenge for coronavirus is to stimulate the AI community to create tools that can help scientists stay on top of thousands of articles to enable them to develop approaches to addressing the COVID-19 pandemic,” Microsoft chief scientific officer Eric Horvitz said during the call. A Microsoft tool was used to perform worldwide indexing and mapping of scholarly articles. “With a million new publications being published each year across all of biomedicine, AI will grow in importance as a critical companion to scientists.” VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! Text mining can enable researchers to evaluate hypotheses, formulate research plans, understand seminal works, and do things like create question-answering bots. As part of the news today, the Allen Institute’s Semantic Scholar will deploy an adaptive feed of existing coronavirus-related research. “By interacting with the feed, you train it to understand your interests and what relevance means to you. So while the feed might start with kind of the top papers on coronavirus, depending on what papers you interact with and what you find useful and not useful, it will learn your preferences. So each scholar would get [a] somewhat different ordering of papers because their interest in the problem is different,” Semantic Scholar general manager Doug Raymond told VentureBeat in a phone interview. Semantic Scholar’s personalized adaptive feed is powered based on work the Allen Institute has done on language models like ELMO and AllenNLP to understand relationships between paper content. Machine learning experts speaking with VentureBeat said Transformer-based advances in text generation and NLP are among the most significant developments of 2019, with more ahead in 2020. “It’s because we’ve had significant advances in NLP in the last couple years, the utility of a data set like this [will] likely be greater than it was a few years ago because there [are] more readily available tools,” Raymond said. Allen Institute for AI director Oren Etzioni said AI can help accelerate progress and unearth answers to questions but stressed that AI will augment humans and will not solve the problem on its own. Multiple organizations are using NLP to fight COVID-19. Harvard Medical School developed a tool to review relevant data, such as patient records, social media, and public health data. BlueDot, a company that uses tools like NLP to scour news articles, public health data, and other sources, reportedly spotted the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak before the World Health Organization sounded the alarm. In China, tech giants like Alibaba Cloud’s Damo Academy are applying state-of-the-art NLP for text analysis of medical records and epidemiological investigation by China CDC officials. Last week, its StructBERT was named the top-performing NLP system in the world on the GLUE benchmark leaderboard. Websites like PubMed, and Microsoft’s Academic Graph, now have COVID-19 resource pages for medical researchers to browse. Partnerships with published literature and preprint repositories like arXiv.org and medrxiv.org will help keep the data set up to date. The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and Georgetown University’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology have also agreed to contribute knowledge. The joint effort has coalesced in the past week, and the most urgent unanswered questions will be listed on the Kaggle website, White House deputy CTO Lynne Parker said today. As part of a five-year collaboration initiative , Harvard Medical School and the Guangzhou Institute will share $115 million in research funding provided by China Evergrande Group. Work at the Guangzhou Institute will be led by Zhong Nanshan, who currently acts as head of the Chinese 2019n-CoV Expert Taskforce and is director general of China State Key Laboratory of Respiratory Diseases. Other forms of AI being applied to combat COVID-19 include disinfecting robots and deep learning to predict mortality rates and COVID-19 detection from CT scan imagery. Governments around the world have also turned to tech like GPS tracking, self-screening apps, text alerts, and movement tracking with smartphones. Other initiatives underway include an antibody discovery initiative between Abcellera and DARPA’s Pandemic Prevention Platform program and Autonomous Diagnostics to Enable Prevention and Therapeutics (ADEPT) that’s designed to stop disease outbreaks within 60 days. The news of the open data set comes a week after White House CTO Michael Kratsios first shared a demo of the research repository during a teleconference with tech giants like Apple, Amazon, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, and Twitter. This teleconference was aimed at finding ways to fight the pandemic using artificial intelligence and data collected by tech companies. Few details were shared about the teleconference, but the White House said the government and businesses discussed information sharing and the creation of new tech tools. Anonymous sources told the Washington Post that an Amazon employee reportedly offered the company’s cloud reporting services for tracking travelers. VentureBeat reached out to Amazon for more details but has not heard back. As the number of COVID-19 cases in the United States continues to rise, President Trump has repeatedly been criticized for spreading misinformation. Shortly after declaring a national emergency to accelerate federal funding last Friday, President Trump, Vice President Pence, and other administration officials said Google was creating a screening website that seemingly promised broad coverage. However, Google said in a statement that Alphabet subsidiary Verily is working on a screening site — as part of its Project Baseline — but that at launch it will only be available in two locations in the San Francisco Bay Area. Use of the site requires a Google account. On Sunday, Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced the company is now working with the U.S. government to create a self-screening website for people wondering whether they should seek medical attention. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"AI Weekly: Coronavirus prompts call to service for ML talent | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2020/03/27/ai-weekly-coronavirus-prompts-call-to-service-for-ml-talent"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages AI Weekly: Coronavirus prompts call to service for ML talent Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn A computer image of the type of virus linked to COVID-19. Are you ready to bring more awareness to your brand? Consider becoming a sponsor for The AI Impact Tour. Learn more about the opportunities here. On Thursday afternoon, the United States became the country with the greatest number of known COVID-19 cases in the world. With millions out of work and the spread of the virus taking its toll, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed and in anguish without ever getting off the couch. Inadequately supplied frontline healthcare workers are the heroes in the trenches of this war, but the world’s scientific community is also considering how it can respond and provide solutions. People with expertise in AI, data science, and tech tools are in demand right now as the world scrambles for ways to avert disaster. In last week’s newsletter , VentureBeat AI editor Seth Colaner characterized it as a kind of digital flotilla. In Spain, four robots are automating up to 80,000 COVID-19 tests a day , and in the United States, AI is part of the search for a coronavirus vaccine , but there are calls to service away from the front lines, too. On Thursday, Microsoft, together with top AI universities in the country, launched the C3.ai Digital Transformation Institute and issued a call for AI techniques to mitigate pandemic fallout, with up to $5.8 million in prizes. Last weekend, we saw supercomputer companies and major cloud providers like AWS, Microsoft’s Azure, and Google Cloud Platform join a consortium to ensure coronavirus researchers don’t encounter compute limitations. Alibaba, Tencent, and Baidu opened up cloud services in China. And the Xprize launched the Pandemic Alliance this week to support researchers and provide them with data from launch partner Anthem. VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! The Aspen Tech Policy Hub, an accelerator that sits at the intersection of civic life and technology, issued a challenge for accelerator graduates to build COVID-19-related solutions. And we saw the formation of the U.S. Digital Response , which is the coming together of three former U.S. Deputy CTOs who are committed to help public health officials and government actors connect with skilled volunteers for projects such as modeling or mapping the spread of COVID-19. Volunteers called upon by U.S. Digital Response to rapidly build projects for the public good come from other major tech service initiatives like the U.S. Digital Service and Code for America. Some projects are being met with opposition. For example, surveillance companies are anxious to offer AI-enabled solutions to government agencies interested in tracking the movement of people with coronavirus or those who have come in contact with a person diagnosed with coronavirus. Governments around the world are increasing surveillance as a result of the coronavirus. Earlier this week, WHO executive director Dr. Michael Ryan said surveillance is part of the answer to resuming life after shutdowns end and shifting from a defensive to an offensive strategy to combat the coronavirus. He points to countries like South Korea and Singapore as models of what he called a “comprehensive public health toolkit.” COVID-Net is an open source computer vision project that launched this week , designed to use x-rays and CT scans to diagnose COVID-19 in patients. But neither the American College of Radiology (ACR) nor the CDC recommend using such a method for diagnosing COVID-19. Even so, the ACR’s Data Science Institute put out a call to solicit AI tools for identifying COVID-19 in CT scans, so that guidance may change. We’re already seeing the outpouring of human kindness and compassion alongside doctors scared to go home to their families. Like soldiers drafted to the front lines, in New York, the epicenter of confirmed cases in the U.S., NYU is asking medical school seniors to graduate early and start working now in local hospitals. The U.S. Army is also requesting retired medical professionals to again serve their country. In the U.K. this week, over 500,000 people responded to a National Health Service call for volunteers. The saying you might’ve heard is true: The greatest generation fought World War II, and we’re being asked to save the world by binging on Netflix. Some can support a local business or make face masks , but a lot of people feel helpless right now because the best thing for them to do to support the “war effort” is to stay at home, and indeed people who follow the urgings of public health officials and stay home right now are saving lives. But for people with data science, tech, or AI knowledge, it’s not as simple as sitting on the couch or social distancing. From calls for NLP experts to help medical researchers to the aforementioned list of initiatives underway this week, people with these skills can lend a hand. Tech is not the solution to all our problems, but people with knowledge of machine intelligence who lend a hand in this international crisis could save a lot of human lives. For AI coverage, send news tips to Khari Johnson and Kyle Wiggers and AI editor Seth Colaner — and be sure to subscribe to the AI Weekly newsletter and bookmark our AI Channel. Thanks for reading, Khari Johnson Senior AI Staff Writer VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"The opportunities and challenges of AI in health care | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2017/02/14/the-opportunities-and-challenges-of-ai-in-health-care"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Guest The opportunities and challenges of AI in health care Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Are you ready to bring more awareness to your brand? Consider becoming a sponsor for The AI Impact Tour. Learn more about the opportunities here. When we asked dozens of venture capitalists where they see the most potential for applied artificial intelligence, they unanimously agreed on health care. Technology has already been used to incrementally improve patient medical records, care delivery, diagnostic accuracy, and drug development, but with AI we could achieve exponential breakthroughs. Deep learning first caught the media’s attention when a team from the lab of Geoffrey Hinton at the University of Toronto won a Merck drug discovery competition despite having no experience with molecular biology and pharmaceutical development. Recently, a multidisciplinary research team at Stanford’s School of Medicine comprised of pathologists, biomedical engineers, geneticists, and computer scientists developed deep learning algorithms that diagnose lung cancer more accurately than human pathologists. The ultimate dream in health care is to eradicate disease entirely. Through our healthcare AI interviews , we learned this dream might be possible one day with the assistance of AI, but we have a very, very long way to go. Innovation is challenged by risk aversion and digitization “Health care as a system advocates ‘do no harm’ first and foremost. Not ‘do good,’ but ‘do no harm.’ Every application of AI in healthcare is regulated by that fundamental philosophy,” cautions Kapila Ratnam, a scientist turned partner at NewSpring Capital. Additionally, Lisa Suennen, managing director at GE Ventures , highlights that “the single biggest contribution to excess cost and error in healthcare is inertia.” The attitude of “this is how it’s always been done” is literally killing people. VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! Other investors agree that the ultraconservatism in the health care system, while intended to protect patients, also harms them by restricting innovation. Gavin Teo, partner at B Capital Group and a specialist in digital health, cites “provider conservatism and unwillingness to risk new technology that does not provide immediate fee-for-service (FFS) revenue” as a major challenge for startups tackling health care. Teo also points out that the industry feels burned from recent experiences, such as “electronic medical records (EMR) digitization regulations, which were overhyped and resisted.” There are many well-known challenges to implementing machine learning and AI in health care. The first is the lack of “curated data sets,” which are required to train AI via supervised learning. “Curated data sets that are robust and have both the breadth and depth for training in a particular application are essential, but frequently hard to access due to privacy concerns, record identification concerns, and HIPAA,” explains Dr. Robert Mittendorff of Norwest Venture Partners. Summerpal Kahlon, MD, is director of care innovation at Oracle Health Sciences. He’s seen many of these data challenges firsthand in delivering technological infrastructure to support individualized care. “Adverse drug events cause around 770,000 injuries and deaths annually in the U.S. and cost each hospital up to $5.6 million annually,” Kahlon discloses, “but drug data is messy, coming from multiple sources in multiple formats. Additionally, genetic data in support of pharmacogenomics is not available at scale yet.” Fixing accidental hospital infections and performing rare disease detection with AI also requires better data than is currently available. According to Kahlon, the genetic and behavioral data required for rare disease studies are not “well-defined nor easily captured,” while “much of the information relating to the risk factors for hospital-acquired infections is kept in unstructured notes in the chart, including in flowsheets and clinical notes.” While data problems in health care abound, another major challenge is designing technical solutions that can be smoothly implemented and integrated into clinician practices and patient care. “Behavioral change is the blockbuster drug of digital health,” claims Dr. Mittendorff, but changing habits is much easier said than done. The wrong solution or rollout can even harm the health care industry. Implementing and integrating technology has indeed been a burden for many clinicians and practitioners. Dr. Jose I. Almeida is a pioneer in endovascular venous surgery who has practiced for over 20 years. He adopted electronic health records (EHR) ahead of the curve, yet has not seen many of the promised benefits. “We implemented our first EMR System eight years ago hoping it would improve efficiencies. We are now on our fourth system, and remain disappointed,” complains Dr. Almeida. “Right now, it’s been more of a hassle than a time-saver, and has actually disrupted the doctor/patient relationship by forcing a screen between physicians and their patients.” Leonard D’Avolio, founder of Cyft , has harsh feedback for fellow entrepreneurs trying to tackle the space: “We’re seeing hospital after hospital take incredible loss and have widespread layoffs simply from the challenge of implementing electronic health records. Imagine what happens if you then show up and say ‘I have artificial intelligence’.” The health care industry is just getting its arms around capturing data digitally, yet many tech entrepreneurs mistakenly believe that creating a dashboard or dropping in a product will somehow lead to adoption of technology and improve operations. “There’s a huge misconception that AI requires huge amounts of data, but that’s not the real issue in health care. The real issue is understanding the context into which you are trying to introduce these technology,” warns D’Avolio. “You need context and a deep understanding of who will use this. What workflows will be introduced?” Even if a medical provider does successfully digitize their data, technical carelessness can introduce problems for everyone in the system. According to Ratnam of NewSpring, “A credit card record costs about 10 cents on the black market. A medical record costs about $200. Medical data is so valuable that hackers constantly seek ways to break into provider or payment systems and other repositories of medical data.” There is often tension between a venture-backed company, which aims for fast growth, and the health care system, which challenges scale because of environmental complexity and unavoidable hand-holding. “This lesson has not been widely learned,” observes D’Avolio. …But opportunities abound and solutions exist Despite challenges, innovation in health care must continue. According to Teo of B Capital, “A study by the Association of American Medical Colleges estimates that by 2025 there will be a shortfall of between 14,900 and 35,600 primary care physicians.” At the same time, the population is aging and in need of more medical attention. Thus, inaction and failure to innovate may lead to doing harm. Luckily, many companies strive to address these issues before they come to pass. CB Insights recently profiled 106 different artificial intelligence startups in health care tackling the various challenges in the space, ranging from patient monitoring to hospital operations. Teo identifies AI powered chatbots and virtual assistants as one way to “alleviate supply constraints by widening the reach of video telehealth options. In this case, diagnosis can be powered by machine learning and then trained by artificial intelligence.” Examples of companies providing clinician assistant and care delivery services include Babylon Health , Evidation Health , Sensely , and Seniorlink. Artificial intelligence can not only improve care delivery, but also assist in clinician decision-making and operational efficiency, amplifying the impact of each individual practitioner. AnalyticsMD employs AI and machine learning (ML) to streamline hospital operations in emergency rooms, operating rooms, and inpatient wards, while predictive companies like Cyft and HealthReveal analyze disparate data sources to accurately triage and apply interventions to the highest risk patients. AI helps not only physicians, but also patients. A study by the Mayo Clinic determined that 50 percent of patients have difficulty with medication adherence. Companies like AI Cure employ computer vision techniques to enable smartphones to recognize faces and medications, lowering the cost and improving the effectiveness of tracking and adherence programs. According to Dr. Mittendorff, “AI enabled coaching will allow a provider or coach to manage more than 1,000 patients simultaneously rather than 50-100, a 10x increase in labor leverage.” Finally, drug discovery companies like NuMedii and Kyan Therapeutics reduce risk in the drug development process, enabling “powerful and proprietary new combination therapies, as well as individualized treatment with unprecedented efficacy and safety,” according to Teo. Otherwise, Suennen points out that the “general spend for each drug brought to market is $2.5 billion.” Even technology challenges that come with digitizations can be mitigated by AI. Remember how valuable medical records are to hackers? Many of these records are pilfered through social engineering methods, such as phishing or fraudulent phone calls. Protenus is a health care security company that applies AI to analyze enterprise-wide access logs and flag suspicious cases for administrator review. Aligning with policy and revenue is a key to success The key to adoption of health care IT is to identify the correct point of entry and fit these systems seamlessly into existing workflows. D’Avolio of Cyft has spent over 12 years fitting ML into the health care system, yet when he speaks at conferences for clinicians, he avoids using the words “artificial intelligence” or “machine learning” and instead focuses on real impact and benefits. Many patients with chronic diseases like diabetes visit doctors and hospitals numerous times, costing themselves, insurance providers, and the medical system a substantial amount of money. Cyft builds sophisticated models that identify patients with a preventable readmission and matches them to appropriate intervention programs. Traditionally, these decisions are made by looking at 7 to 10 administrative variables, but Cyft’s model looks at over 400 data sources, ranging from free-text input from nurses to call center data. While adoption of such technologies may seem complicated, D’Avolio gets buy-in by strategically aligning with revenue incentives and policy decisions. “In healthcare, policy eats strategy and culture for breakfast,” explains D’Avolio. “For example, prior to [when] the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act passed in 2009, the rate of adoption of electronic health records was under 9%. Today, thanks to the carrot and stick incentives involved in that act the rate of adoption is > 90%.” Another major policy shift that has dramatically helped investment in health care IT is the value-based care experiments (also called demonstration programs) funded by the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation (CMMI). Knowing which policy an organization is incentivized or paid by is key to identifying promising customers. According to D’Avolio, “Organizations that get paid mostly from seeing more patients will want AI that helps deliver more complex care faster. Organizations that are paid via value-based programs will seek technology that keep patients healthier at lower cost.” Suennen of GE Ventures agrees that operational analytics can dramatically improve health systems: “25 percent of the more than $7 billion spent each year on knee and hip surgeries are impacted by bundled payments initiatives. Determining how to manage these bundles is challenging, and advanced technologies can aid in understanding what changes must be made across the board in operations and financial/clinical management to ensure that health systems can respond.” Teo is also excited by policy changes that should drive forward health care innovation. “New reimbursement driven by the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA) and the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) incentives in 2017 will drive quality outcomes, phasing providers to think more holistically when investing in technology.” Additionally, he believes that a looser FDA in the coming years will help drive investment in personalized medicine. Successful health care innovation will only happen with strong collaboration between entrepreneurs, investors, health care providers, patients, and policy developers. If the stars align, humanity stands to derive enormous benefit from the application of AI and inch closer to our dream of perfect health and a world without disease. Mariya Yao is the Head of R&D at TOPBOTS , a strategy & research firm for artificial intelligence and bots. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Axonius raises $20 million for device management and security tools | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/08/27/axonius-raises-20-million-for-device-management-and-security-tools"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Axonius raises $20 million for device management and security tools Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship. Learn more. Axonius , a New York- and Tel Aviv-based cybersecurity startup developing an end-to-end device management platform, today announced that it’s raised $20 million in series B funding led by OpenView, with participation from Bessemer Venture Partners, YL Ventures, Vertex, WTI, and Emerge. CEO Dean Sysman said that the round, which brings Axonius ‘ total raised to $37 million following a $13 million series A raise in February, will help to drive customer acquisition and expedite product development. It comes after something of a banner year for Axonius, which saw annual recurring revenue climb by 400% over the past eight months as the number of assets managed by its tools grew to over three million. The company was recently shortlisted as one of the 10 finalists in a contest at leading cybersecurity conference RSA , and it currently counts a number of Fortune 500 brands among its customer roster, including The New York Times, Schneider Electric, ThermoFisher, Landmark Health, and AppsFlyer. “We’ve found a way to solve this decades-old problem, and this funding will allow us to double down on our mission to enable our customers to take control of their assets and rest assured their environments are secure,” said Sysman, who cofounded Axonius in 2017 with Avidor Bartov and Ofri Shur after a five-year stint in the Israel Defense Force. For the uninitiated, Axonius’ agentless solution aims to streamline asset management and spotlight coverage gaps by automatically validating and enforcing security policies. It connects with existing software and networking gear to build an inventory of assets that spans cloud and on-premises environments, whether said devices are managed or unmanaged. Furthermore, it supports one-off and ongoing queries that help to illustrate how assets relate to security policies, and it features trigger functionality that enables users to program rules that kick off enforcement responses like software installs and device scans. VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! Axonius’ cybersecurity capabilities are bolstered further by robust support for third-party apps and services. It connects to over 135 at press time, including Active Directory, cloud instances like Amazon, endpoint protection tools, NAC solutions, Mobile Device Management, VA Scanners, and more. OpenView partner Mackey Craven, who plans to join the company’s board of directors, asserts that these and other features put Axonius leagues ahead of sometime rivals Zededa (which raised $15.9 million in February), Armis Security (which secured $65 million in April), Vdoo (which recently nabbed $32 million), and Mocana (which raised $15 million in March). “There’s a tendency to solve enterprise-level problems with complex, heavy solutions,” he said. “But Axonius is taking the opposite approach by solving asset management with an elegant solution that customers love. It’s time we turn the tide on a problem that has plagued organizations for decades, and we believe Axonius is well positioned to do just that.” In any case, research firm Markets and Markets anticipates the enterprise device market will reach $8.2 billion by 2024, spurred on by the growing popularity of bring-your-own-device policies and indefatigable cyberattackers. A Verizon report found that roughly one in three organizations suffer data breaches due to compromised mobile devices, while another study suggests that businesses are unaware of 40% of the connected devices in use in their environment. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Google launches AutoML Natural Language with improved text classification and model training | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/12/12/google-launches-automl-natural-language-with-improved-text-classification-and-model-training"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Google launches AutoML Natural Language with improved text classification and model training Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Are you ready to bring more awareness to your brand? Consider becoming a sponsor for The AI Impact Tour. Learn more about the opportunities here. Earlier this year, Google took the wraps off of AutoML Natural Language, an extension of its Cloud AutoML machine learning platform to the natural language processing domain. After a months-long beta, AutoML today launched in general availability for customers globally, with support for tasks like classification, sentiment analysis, and entity extraction, as well as a range of file formats, including native and scanned PDFs. By way of refresher, AutoML Natural Language taps machine learning to reveal the structure and meaning of text from emails, chat logs, social media posts, and more. It can extract information about people, places, and events both from uploaded and pasted text or Google Cloud Storage documents, and it allows users to train their own custom AI models to classify, detect, and analyze things like sentiment, entities, content, and syntax. It furthermore offers custom entity extraction, which enables the identification of domain-specific entities within documents that don’t appear in standard language models. AutoML Natural Language has over 5,000 classification labels and allows training on up to 1 million documents up to 10MB in size, which Google says makes it an excellent fit for “complex” use cases like comprehending legal files or document segmentation for organizations with large content taxonomies. It has been improved in the months since its reveal, specifically in the areas of text and document entity extraction — Google says that AutoML Natural Language now considers additional context (such as the spatial structure and layout information of a document) for model training and prediction to improve the recognition of text in invoices, receipts, resumes, and contracts. Additionally, Google says that AutoML Natural Language is now FedRAMP-authorized at the Moderate level, meaning it has been vetted according to U.S. government specifications for data where the impact of loss is limited or serious. It says that this — along with newly introduced functionality that lets customers create a data set, train a model, and make predictions while keeping the data and related machine learning processing within a single server region — makes it easier for federal agencies to take advantage. VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! Already, Hearst is using AutoML Natural Language to help organize content across its domestic and international magazines, and Japanese publisher Nikkei Group is leveraging AutoML Translate to publish articles in different languages. Chicory, a third early adopter, tapped it to develop custom digital shopping and marketing solutions for grocery retailers like Kroger, Amazon, and Instacart. The ultimate goal is to provide organizations, researchers, and businesses who require custom machine learning models a simple, no-frills way to train them, explained product manager for natural language Lewis Liu in a blog post. “Natural language processing is a valuable tool used to reveal the structure and meaning of text,” he said. “We’re continuously improving the quality of our models in partnership with Google AI research through better fine-tuning techniques, and larger model search spaces. We’re also introducing more advanced features to help AutoML Natural Language understand documents better.” Notably, the launch of AutoML follows on the heels of AWS Textract , Amazon’s machine learning service for text and data extraction, which debuted in May. Microsoft offers a comparable service in Azure Text Analytics. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"EA pulls out of GDC as coronavirus spreads to more countries | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2020/02/25/ea-gdc-coronavirus"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Electronic Arts pulls out of GDC over coronavirus concerns Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Electronic Arts Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship. Learn more. Electronic Arts is not going to officially participate in the Games Developers Conference in San Francisco in March. The massive publisher told staff on Monday, February 24, that it is limiting its presence at the annual gathering of game creators. This comes amid growing concern over the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19) to more countries in Europe and Asia. EA has over 9,000 employees with some located in countries that are actively fighting the spread of the virus. Putting a hold on travel should limit the company’s exposure to coronavirus. That in turn should limit its exposure to the financial risk of dozens of employees missing work due to illness. Here is the note that EA chief people officer Mala Singh sent out to EA employees last night : “We will be limiting our presence at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Francisco, March 16-20. We are cancelling our participation in official GDC events. And employees should not travel to San Francisco for the conference. For meetings that are set to take place outside of the conference and not within the event venue, we will evaluate on an individual basis if these should take place. If you have meetings planned around GDC and are unsure if you should move forward, please speak with your manager.” While the CDC is not issuing any travel warnings for U.S. cities like San Francisco , EA doesn’t want to take any chances. It is also not the only company to pull out of GDC. Event GamesBeat at the Game Awards We invite you to join us in LA for GamesBeat at the Game Awards event this December 7. Reserve your spot now as space is limited! Sony pulled out of GDC and PAX East. Facebook and Oculus announced it would not participate as well. Japanese studios at Capcom, Square Enix, and Kojima Productions also cancelled plans to attend the conference. I reached out to GDC for a comment. I’ll update this post with any new statement from the organizers. EA staff work from home in affected countries Fear of coronavirus is spreading as infections continue to show up in more countries around the world. While much of China is still dealing with lockdowns and quarantines, similar responses are beginning to take shape in South Korea, and Italy. EA has employees in all of those countries. And for its part, it is doing its part to limit the spread of infection. “In addition to the EA China team, employees in our South Korea and Italy offices are now working from home in alignment with local guidance following increased instances of exposure in those regions,” Singh wrote in her note to employees. So EA is just one more company trying to continue business as usual while also looking over its shoulder at a potential pandemic. GamesBeat's creed when covering the game industry is "where passion meets business." What does this mean? We want to tell you how the news matters to you -- not just as a decision-maker at a game studio, but also as a fan of games. Whether you read our articles, listen to our podcasts, or watch our videos, GamesBeat will help you learn about the industry and enjoy engaging with it. Discover our Briefings. Join the GamesBeat community! Enjoy access to special events, private newsletters and more. VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Gamedev.world will raise money to provide relief for developers affected by GDC postponement | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2020/02/28/gamedev-world-will-raise-money-to-provide-relief-for-developers-affected-by-gdc-changes"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Gamedev.world will raise money to provide relief for developers affected by GDC postponement Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Gamedev.world is raising money devs affected by GDC's changes. Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship. Learn more. Gamedev.world , a nonprofit group dedicated to creating online events for game developers, has announced that it will raise money for indie game developers affected by the postponement of next month’s Game Developers Conference. Moments ago, the GDC announced that it will postpone the 29,000-person conference this March because of the spread of the coronavirus, which prompted many of GDC’s biggest sponsors and attendees to pull out over the last couple of weeks. And so Gamedev.world, which last year staged a global online-only game conference that was translated in real time to eight different languages, is creating what it calls its GDC Relief Fund for “marginalized developers affected by event cancellations.” One of the organizers of Gamedev.world is Rami Ismail, cofounder of game studio Vlambeer and executive director at Gamedev.world. The fundraising event will happen from March 27 to April 3, featuring a Pay-What-You-Want games bundle, a public game jam, and free online live talks and Q&A translated in the worlds’ largest languages. Event GamesBeat at the Game Awards We invite you to join us in LA for GamesBeat at the Game Awards event this December 7. Reserve your spot now as space is limited! “Even in the early stages of organizing these efforts, we can tell from the response to the initiative that the entire industry is concerned about the repercussions that current events have had on marginalized developers in our international community,” said Ismail in a statement. “As we continue to organize these efforts, we’re heartened by the solidarity and excitement among all layers of the industry to support those who are affected most by the heartbreaking cancellation of such a central event in our industry. While there is no way to replace all the opportunities of the Game Developer’s Conference, we hope to help alleviate and minimize the loss of opportunity and the financial damage to those that had hoped to attend.” Gamedev.world said that many marginalized developers are worried that they’ve invested what sometimes comes down to years of savings into an event that will not happen. The combination of the uncertain circumstances surrounding the virus and the high risk and cost of health care in the United States has caused many developers from around the world to reconsider travel, but many feel beholden to their itinerary due to the sizable investments they’ve made. Whether the tickets for the event itself will be refunded or not is unclear. But Gamedev.world said that many developers around the world won’t have a way to refund their visas, lodging, and travel costs. Many worry that they do not just lose the opportunity of attending this years’ conference but also the possibility to reroute the funds spent to other opportunities throughout the year. “We’ll be raising donations throughout, and every single dollar the event makes will go toward our partners at the GDC Relief Fund and the marginalized developers most affected by these cancellations,” the group said. To further support that fundraiser, Gamedev.world is also organizing a bundle and game jam in collaboration with itch.io. All submitted games — whether resulting from the jam or from developers that have made their existing games available — will be made available as a Pay-What-You-Want bundle, with all proceeds going toward the same goals of alleviating the financial burden of the developers most affected by these events. Renee Gittins, executive developer of the International Game Developers Association, issued the following statement: The IGDA strives to ensure game developers can successfully pursue their dreams. We support the personal growth of game developers, the betterment of the game industry, and also work to help developers overcome the many challenges in the industry and the world. With the effect of COVID-19 on conferences and international travel, many companies and developers have not only lost business opportunities and access to valuable talks, but their critical funds invested in travel, booth space, and passes to pursue these opportunities. In light of this, the IGDA would like to announce a partnership with GameDev.World to support both affected and all developers worldwide. The IGDA is partnering with GameDev.World’s online event and fundraiser to alleviate the financial burdens on developers affected by the outbreak of COVID-19. In addition to providing financial relief, this event will supply education opportunities via free talks about important game development subjects. Attendees across the globe will be able to hone their expertise and knowledge. The IGDA is also partnering with Take This, a trusted leader in mental health practice in the game industry, to develop new materials and standards of support and professionalism to ensure the success of developers. This partnership will provide trusted resources for sustainable development practices by improving human resource practices and leadership development across the game industry. We are proud to be a leading voice of the game development community as we come together to aid those in our industry in the pursuit of their dreams. Both of these partnerships will support game developers around the globe in achieving fulfilling and sustainable careers, and should lessen the burdens created by these recent events. For more information about GameDev.World’s efforts, please visit: https://gamedev.world/relief/ GamesBeat's creed when covering the game industry is "where passion meets business." What does this mean? We want to tell you how the news matters to you -- not just as a decision-maker at a game studio, but also as a fan of games. Whether you read our articles, listen to our podcasts, or watch our videos, GamesBeat will help you learn about the industry and enjoy engaging with it. Discover our Briefings. Join the GamesBeat community! Enjoy access to special events, private newsletters and more. VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Apple passes 400 million iPads sold | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2018/10/30/apple-passes-400-million-ipads-sold"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Apple passes 400 million iPads sold Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship. Learn more. Apple CEO Tim Cook announced during the company’s “ More in the Making ” event in New York City that Apple has passed 400 million iPads sold. Apple sold more iPads in the last year (44.2 million) than any other major manufacturer sold laptops, Cook pointed out. “We’ve sold more iPads in the last year than the entire notebook lineup of all of the biggest notebook vendors,” Cook said onstage. “Not only [is it] the most popular tablet, but the most popular computer in the world.” Tablet shipments have been in the red for years — most recently, tablets declined for the 15th straight quarter. Nonetheless, Apple has led this market with the iPad. The company has seen year-over-year declines, as well, but most recently iPad sales have been largely flat. This is one reason Cook wants to compare the iPad to laptops — the tablet market simply isn’t growing, and neither is the iPad. Tablets simply don’t sell as well as smartphones. The other reason is because Apple wants to position the iPad as more than just another tablet. Apple shared the 400 million milestone right before unveiling the new iPad Pro and Apple Pencil. The devices are meant to blur the line between tablet and laptop, which Apple talks up in its marketing by arguing the iPad should be seen as redefining what a computer can be. At the very start of the “More in the Making” event, Cook shared that Apple had 100 million active Mac users. He didn’t give a comparable figure for the iPad. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"iPad Pro A12X benchmarks rival MacBook Pros with Intel Core i7 CPUs | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2018/11/01/ipad-pro-a12x-benchmarks-rival-macbook-pros-with-intel-core-i7-cpus"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages iPad Pro A12X benchmarks rival MacBook Pros with Intel Core i7 CPUs Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship. Learn more. Prior to Apple’s official unveiling of the third-generation iPad Pro this week, it was clear that a new A12X Bionic processor could finally match the speeds of current-generation MacBook Pro laptops if Apple was ready to pull the trigger. Now early Geekbench benchmark results are confirming as much: the iPad Pro rivals the latest Intel Core i7 CPU-equipped Apple laptops, seemingly despite significant price gaps. Scores popping up on Geekbench Browser for the iPad 8,8 — an eight-core iPad with the rumored 6GB of RAM allegedly found in 1TB storage configurations — are showing single-core scores between 5030 to 5083, with multi-core scores ranging from 17771 to 17995. Those numbers place the new iPad Pro directly between Apple’s 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Pros with Intel Core i7 processors: 5136 single-core, 17603 multi-core ( 13-inch 2.7GHz i7 ) 5052 single-core, 21341 multi-core ( 15-inch 2.6GHz i7 ) Notably, the 13-inch MacBook Pro has an upgraded 2.7GHz four-core processor, while the 15-inch model has a higher-end 2.6GHz six-core processor. The new iPad Pro outperforms the single-core speed of the 15-inch machine configuration that starts at $2,799, as well as the multi-core speed of the 13-inch MacBook Pro configuration that starts at $2,099. By comparison, the iPad Pro starts at $799, with 1TB storage configurations starting at $1,549. Of course, the comparison isn’t exactly apples to apples, as the $799 iPad Pro has an 11-inch screen, and even the 12.9-inch iPad Pro has a slightly smaller display than the smallest MacBook Pro. Moreover, choosing the iPad Pro over the laptop means fewer USB-C ports, the need for a separate keyboard accessory, and other compromises. But the raw hardware performance and battery life are now in the same range as Apple’s professional tablets and laptops, with the tablet having an advanced touchscreen and superior cameras as assets. Since Apple is somewhat opaque with iPad specs , it’s unclear at this moment whether the pricey 1TB models will actually outperform less expensive versions, but historically the answer has been “no.” As of today, Apple’s iPad Pro tech specs page provides no indication that there’s any performance difference between models based on capacity. If that’s the case, the latest A12X Bionic-equipped tablets are an even better deal than they initially appeared to be during their introduction event, and a truly worrying sign for both Intel and Qualcomm, which will have to redouble their efforts to reach mobile chip performance parity for competing devices. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Intel reveals 10th Gen Core lineup for laptops and 2-in-1s | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/08/01/intel-reveals-10th-gen-core-lineup-for-laptops-and-2-in-1s"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Intel reveals 10th Gen Core lineup for laptops and 2-in-1s Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn 10th Gen Intel Core processors are made on a 10-nanometer process. Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship. Learn more. Intel’s new generation of processors is nigh upon us, and it promises to be a doozy in several respects. The Santa Clara chipmaker today launched 11 new 10-nanometer 10th Gen Intel Core processors (code-named Ice Lake) designed for slim laptops, 2-in-1s, and other high-end mobile form factors. In addition to capable new integrated graphics and enhanced connectivity courtesy Wi-Fi 6 and Thunderbolt 3, the chips feature tweaks intended to accelerate task-specific workloads like AI inference and photo editing, as well as gaming. Intel expects the first 35 or so systems sporting Ice Lake-U and Ice Lake-Y chips to ship for the holiday season. Several that passed the chipmaker’s Project Athena certification were previewed at Computex in Taiwan, including the Acer Swift 5, Dell XPS 13-inch 2-in 1, HP Envy 13, and Lenovo S940. No matter which processor in the 10th Gen portfolio your future PC sports, its four cores (eight logical cores) paired with a 6MB or 8MB cache will support up to 32GB of LP4/x-3733 (or up to 64GB of DDR4-3200), and they’ll sip 9W, 15W, or 28W of power while clocking up to 4.1GHz at maximum Turbo Boost frequency. Each chip has 16 PCIe 3.0 lanes for external use, and their memory controllers allow for idle power states for less intensive tasks. Above: Intel’s 10th Gen Core lineup. With respect to AI and machine learning, every laptop-bound 10th Gen processor — whether Core i3, Core i5, and Core i7 — boasts Sunny Cove cores with Intel AVX-512-Deep Learning Boost, a new instruction set that speeds up automatic image enhancements, photo indexing, media postprocessing, and other AI-driven tasks. It’s complemented by Intel’s Gaussian & Neural Accelerator (GNA), a battery-maximizing dedicated engine for background workloads like voice processing and noise suppression, and by Dynamic Tuning 2.0, which applies machine learning on top of Turbo Boost to predict workload and adjust power draw accordingly. Event GamesBeat at the Game Awards We invite you to join us in LA for GamesBeat at the Game Awards event this December 7. Reserve your spot now as space is limited! The 10th Gen lineup’s embedded Gen 11 Iris Plus graphics are no less impressive — Intel claims they deliver roughly double the performance of the previous generation at 1080p, thanks to 64 execution units clocked up to 1.1GHz. (Chips with lower-tier Ultra HD graphics top out at 32 execution units.) They’re the first to support VESA’s Adaptive Sync display standard and the first to incorporate variable rate shading, a rendering technique that increases rendering performance by applying varying amounts of processing power to different areas of the image. On machines that take advantage, Iris Plus natively supports the BT.2020 color space, which ranges billions of hues in 4K HDR. Other Gen 11 features of note are support for two 5K streams at 60 frames per second or one 4K stream at 120 frames per second with a 10-bit color depth, plus two HEVC 10-bit encode pipelines and full compatibility with DisplayPort 1.4 HBR3 and HDMI 2.0b. Intel claims that all this in practice delivers an overall clock-for-clock 18% improvement over the original Skylake designs, and an estimated 1.15 teraflops of FP32 performance or 2.30 teraflops of FP16 performance on the graphics side of the equation. That’s in addition to a 2.5 times AI performance advantage versus the previous generation and an eight times boost (when using DL Boost) compared with rival offerings, plus a 20% uplift for designs using Intel’s Adaptix suite of graphics-optimizing software. Even without Adaptix, the company says that content creation tools using HEVC can expect approximately two times faster encode on average with higher quality. Improved graphics and AI performance aren’t the only enhancements of note. Intel says that increased board integration has already helped PC manufacturers incorporate features like up to four Thunderbolt 3 ports, six ports of USB 3.2 Gen 1 (or 10 USB 2.0 ports, or a mix of both) and Wi-Fi 6 via Intel’s proprietary CNVi interface link and controller, which delivers up to up to four times better performance than Wi-Fi 5 (previously 802.11ac) at 1Gbps speeds. A few tie in with Athena’s over 23 baseline requirements, which include things like nine or more hours of real-world battery life, a sleep-from-wake time of less than a second, a four-hour battery charge in 30 minutes, and “consistent responsiveness” when drawing from battery power as opposed to a wall outlet. It might sound like a bunch, but Intel says today’s announcements only scratched the surface of the upcoming 10th Gen lineup. Toward the end of August, the chipmaker says it plans to unveil additional products tailored to multi-threaded “high productivity” and “commercial segments.” “These 10th Gen Intel Core processors shift the paradigm for what it means to deliver leadership in mobile PC platforms,” said Chris Walker, Intel corporate vice president and general manager of Mobility Client Platforms in the Client Computing Group. “With broad-scale AI for the first time on PCs, an all-new graphics architecture, best-in-class Wi-Fi 6 (Gig+) and Thunderbolt 3 — all integrated onto the SoC, thanks to Intel’s 10nm process technology and architecture design — we’re opening the door to an entirely new range of experiences and innovations for the laptop.” GamesBeat's creed when covering the game industry is "where passion meets business." What does this mean? We want to tell you how the news matters to you -- not just as a decision-maker at a game studio, but also as a fan of games. Whether you read our articles, listen to our podcasts, or watch our videos, GamesBeat will help you learn about the industry and enjoy engaging with it. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Kickstarter shrugs as Dune Case seeks to crowdfund 2019 Mac Pro clone | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/10/14/kickstarter-shrugs-as-dune-case-seeks-to-crowdfund-2019-mac-pro-clone"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Kickstarter shrugs as Dune Case seeks to crowdfund 2019 Mac Pro clone Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship. Learn more. It takes a lot of gall and apparently very little fear of legal consequences to copy an Apple product design while portraying it as your own — then using crowdfunding support to bring it to market. But that’s what Dune Case is attempting with Dune Pro, a PC enclosure that clones Apple’s 2019 Mac Pro desktop computer , with hopes to lure Kickstarter backers into the endeavor. And Kickstarter is seemingly unconcerned. Apple famously introduced the new Mac Pro at its Worldwide Developers Conference in June, revealing the “completely redesigned” tower as its top-of-line macOS computer. Featuring a striking new stainless steel and aluminum enclosure, the 2019 model resembles an oversized cheese grater, replacing a smaller prior design that looked like a small trash can. Apple will sell the new model for $5,999 and up, with at least U.S.-bound configurations undergoing final assembly in Austin, Texas. Dune Pro appears to copy almost every element of Apple’s design, including steel handles and feet that sit above and below and an aluminum central housing. A removable front panel with a fine mesh panel can be replaced with an nearly identical clone of the Mac Pro’s front design called the “Dice Y cover,” which is specifically designed to dampen sound from self-supplied fans. Dune Case says the product will hit Kickstarter on October 21, and has already seeded nearly finished prototypes to publications and video producers — including ones that are conveniently forgetting to mention that the design was copied from Apple. But while Kickstarter is aware of the situation, it doesn’t appear to be taking any action to stop it. Contacted for comment last week, a Kickstarter representative today seemed to shrug off the situation. “The DMCA provides a framework for online disputes over intellectual property,” the crowdfunding site told VentureBeat. “If someone believes a Kickstarter project infringes on their intellectual property, they can follow the steps here. Outside of that, it’s really up to backers to decide whether a project is something they want to support.” The risks may be growing for both Kickstarter and its project creators. Last week, iPad keyboard maker Brydge sued Kickstarter and China-based company Sentis over Libra, a crowdfunded accessory that uses a trackpad and keyboard to turn an “iPad Pro into a MacBook.” Brydge claims that Sentis is infringing its protected designs, and that Kickstarter is facilitating the infringement by giving the company a global platform for the product. Unlike Sentis, Dune is pulling the tail of Apple itself rather than an Apple accessory maker, and omitting most of the internal components that make the new Mac Pro work. Instead of copying Apple’s custom heat sink, fan system, and power supply, Dune Pro claims that it’s giving customers the “power to choose” their own internals — including CPUs with even more cores than the top-of-line Mac Pro’s 28-core Intel Xeon processor, as well as new, large GPUs from Nvidia and AMD. Users will be able to select from Mini ITX, ATX, mATX, EATX, and EEB motherboards, while enjoying access to comparable USB ports, drive trays, and the like. Dune Case previously attempted and failed to seek Kickstarter funding for a clone of the last-generation Mac Pro , raising only $75,283 of its $130,000 goal despite largely copying the look of Apple’s smallest professional desktop machine. The campaign ran from February to March 2016, gaining less than 500 backers for the enclosure, which it promised to deliver for less than $200 in customers’ choice of black or gold colors. It’s unclear whether any units of the prior case actually shipped. Apple has not responded to a request for comment on Dune Pro. We will update this article if we hear back from the company. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Apple's iPad Pro is only an iPadOS update away from replacing a laptop | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/10/28/apples-ipad-pro-is-only-an-ipados-update-away-from-replacing-a-laptop"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Analysis Apple’s iPad Pro is only an iPadOS update away from replacing a laptop Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship. Learn more. Over the past decade, smartphones may have become the primary computing devices for most users, but they haven’t replaced the need for laptop or desktop computers — at least, for certain critical purposes, such as content creation. Tablets have instead emerged as the heir apparent to laptops, but that transition has been happening slowly enough that it doesn’t feel like a sea change, even though it’s in progress. Apple was the first company to get the tablet form factor right, but Microsoft subsequently did a better job of transitioning users from laptops to tablets with its Surface products, which more thoughtfully let people choose from PC- and mobile-class apps. Mac users have spent nine long years waiting for an iPad that could fully supplant a MacBook, and as of six months ago, even the latest and greatest iPad keyboard cases couldn’t bridge the gap. The story has changed since then. Thanks to last month’s release of iPadOS 13 and macOS Catalina , the lines dividing Apple’s tablet and laptop platforms are now blurrier than ever before, and it’s my strong belief that the iPad is only a single major OS release away from being a viable laptop replacement. It’s really only a question of whether Apple will actually pull the trigger next year with iOS 14, or kick the can down the road again as it has done in the past, but there’s reason to be optimistic. Above: Apple’s Files app in iPadOS 13 supports external USB storage. As of iOS 13, iPads now natively support external storage, including flash drives, card readers, and external hard drives, which can be accessed using the Files app. While iPads have been able to pull (some) photos and videos off of SD cards using accessories for years, Apple has opened the door to such a wide array of storage devices that you can now plug* a Mac-formatted hard disk or PC-ready flash drive into the iPad and move content back and forth. The Files app provides access to the full directory structure of an attached device, so you’re not limited to just grabbing photos from a DCIM folder as per Apple’s prior Photos app importing mechanism; you can dive into any folder or subfolder you want, and even access files in formats iPadOS can’t natively read. There’s still plenty of work to be done before Files is a viable macOS Finder alternative, but file system support goes a long way to freeing iPads from feeling like high-walled gardens. Above: iPadOS 13 includes preliminary support for mouse input. Apple deliberately buried — but did include — another potentially huge gap-bridging feature in iPadOS 13: preliminary support for mouse and trackpad accessories. If you go into the Settings app’s Accessibility menu, choose Touch, then turn on AssistiveTouch, you can connect* a mouse or trackpad to the iPad and gain access to a circular cursor for selecting on-screen items. You can adjust the cursor’s speed of movement, though more robust macOS-style click and gesture tweaks are all but nonexistent. There are other caveats — Apple’s own Magic Mouse and Magic Trackpad accessories “are not supported over Bluetooth” at this point, for instance — but if you really need to use a mouse with your iPad, now you can. It wouldn’t be hard at all for Apple to expand this feature from Accessibility-only to broader support in iOS 14, and some third-party developers are already crafting combined touchpad and keyboard accessories on the assumption this will happen next year. The asterisk-worthy hitch is making a physical, wired connection between the iPad and these peripherals. If you like Apple options, you can buy a $69 adapter with HDMI, USB-A, and USB-C ports to connect an iPad Pro to an external monitor or TVs. Unfortunately, most of the iPad’s output isn’t optimized for 16:9 or 4K monitors, so you’ll generally see the iPad UI in the heavily letterboxed form shown above; only certain videos will make better use of the external screen. Above: Kanex’s 6-in-1 Multiport USB-C Docking Station. If you’re willing to spend $100, Kanex has released an iAdapt 6-in-1 Multiport USB-C Docking Station for the latest iPad Pros, adding an impressively robust collection of connectors in a convenient form factor. iAdapt includes microSD and SD card slots, a 3.5mm headphone port, and HDMI, USB-C, and USB-A ports within a hub that attaches to the iPad Pro’s corner. It’s a really nice match for the space gray iPad Pro, and works exactly as you’d expect, transforming a tablet that ships with a single USB-C port into a viable photo/video importing, data synchronizing, and AV outputting machine, without requiring multiple Apple USB-C accessories. Kanex has clearly tried its best — and better than Apple, which always lets its dongles dangle — to consider how various users might want to attach such an accessory to their tablets, providing the option to physically attach it or let it hang off the iPad’s USB-C port. To enable compatibility with 11- and 12.9-inch tablets, Kanex connects a cable to the iPad Pro, then includes a removable rubber spacer so you can use it with some cases, including Apple’s Smart and Smart Keyboard Folios. Other keyboard cases — such as Logitech’s Slim Folio Pro , shown below — are an uneasy fit unless you just let the accessory flop loose like a traditional USB hub. I love the convenience of carrying a single hub with every type of connector I might need and support for the two types of memory cards I use the most. It still stinks that such an accessory doesn’t just come in the iPad Pro box, and that good ones add another $100 to the tablet’s base price, but that’s just the way it goes with Apple devices. The good news is that a year after the release of the third-generation iPad Pro, there’s actually reason to feel like Apple tablets are evolving into proper laptop alternatives. If you add up the cumulative changes above, you’ll note that we’re now at the stage where you can use either wired or wireless controllers, monitors, and storage devices with iPads, which is enough to make an Apple tablet almost as useful as a MacBook. Moreover, since 2018 iPad Pros rival midrange MacBook Pros in processing power, you’re not giving up premium laptop-class speeds to use an Apple tablet — something that can’t always be said about Microsoft’s Surface alternatives. That said, the iPad’s key remaining problem is simple: iPadOS still isn’t a full laptop- or desktop-class operating system on par with macOS, and it still can’t run Mac apps. As we’ve seen recently, even when a company such as Adobe promises “real Photoshop” for iPads a year in advance, the result isn’t necessarily “full Photoshop” on a tablet; it’s a better-than-mobile, worse-than-desktop compromise. Surface users don’t have to deal with that tradeoff: If there’s a Windows version of an app, no matter what that app does, you can get a Surface tablet that runs it. I’m optimistic that Apple will make further strides in 2020. Having split iPadOS off into its own release schedule and added Catalyst to encourage macOS developers to create shared iPad/Mac code bases, it’s quite likely that 2020 will be a good year for iPad users with Mac aspirations. We’ll have to see whether that just means more full-fledged Mac apps and Mac features on iPads (most likely) or a hybrid device with macOS and iPadOS support (less likely), but in either case, I’m expecting to do more real work on my iPad over the coming year than I’ve ever considered in the past. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Adobe triples down on iPad with Aero, Illustrator, and Photoshop apps | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/11/04/adobe-triples-down-on-ipad-with-aero-illustrator-and-photoshop-apps"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Adobe triples down on iPad with Aero, Illustrator, and Photoshop apps Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Photoshop for iPad (left) and Aero for iOS (right). Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship. Learn more. Adobe’s annual developer conference Adobe Max is underway in Los Angeles, and though the company is offering its standard collection of small feature additions to its existing Creative Cloud apps for PCs and Macs , it’s also placing some fairly big bets on new apps for Apple’s iPad tablets. This year, Adobe is launching the AR authoring app Aero, vector drawing app Illustrator, and image editor Photoshop for iPads, as well as a more robust iOS and iPad version of its collaborative design platform Adobe XD. Originally announced in October 2018 , Aero is designed to simplify the process of creating augmented reality content for mobile devices, turning art, photos, and videos into floating digital layers within real-world scenes. Instead of requiring creators to learn coding skills or use a 3D graphics engine such as Unity, Aero leverages an iOS device’s integrated scene-mapping tools to identify actual surfaces and objects, then adds still or moving elements to create interactive experiences. Above: Aero for iPadOS. As an example, a creator might use Aero to create an experience that automatically surfaces a virtual product brochure and pair of sneakers when the device identifies a certain shoebox. Aero can use input files created with Adobe’s Photoshop, Illustrator, and Dimension, and create outputs that run on multiple devices. It’s free now for iOS and iPadOS users, and will be available in private desktop beta form at Adobe Max. Adobe is also using Max to officially announce Illustrator for iPad, a version of the classic vector drawing and graphic design app that’s been “reimagined… for the mobile age.” While the company isn’t billing the tablet version of Illustrator as either “full” or “real” compared with the desktop app, it will include the core tools designers expect for creating and editing vectors, along with new “Snappy Pencil” and “Radial Repeat” tools that are optimized for quick iPad drawing and coloring. Event GamesBeat at the Game Awards We invite you to join us in LA for GamesBeat at the Game Awards event this December 7. Reserve your spot now as space is limited! Above: Illustrator for iPad. A pre-event live demonstration of Illustrator showed a handful of simple selection, drawing, shape, coloring, and text tools, all easily accessed using an Apple Pencil on an iPad’s screen. An artist turned hand-drawn sketches of toucans imported as a photograph into vector-based art with some simple taps and point edits, adding radial gradients of color and text with little effort. Illustrator will be offered as a public beta for iPadOS at this year’s Adobe Max, and officially released in 2020. Adobe’s long-gestating Photoshop for iPad is also arriving at Max, coming out of beta into a somewhat limited 1.0 public release. On a positive note, the completely rebuilt tablet app does share enough visual and functional cues with the PC and Mac desktop version to qualify as a younger sibling; it includes proper PSD and layer support for working with classic Photoshop files, plus full Apple Pencil support to make drawing, editing, and selecting precise on the tablet’s screen. Above: Photoshop for iPad. The bummer is that even after extended development, Photoshop for iPad isn’t really “full Photoshop” quite yet. For now, users get access to “core image compositing and photo editing tools for most retouching workflows,” including most of the healing, cropping, erasing, filling, painting, and selection tools Adobe’s desktop app has become famous for. But Adobe says that some of the finer features, such as refining the edges of automatic selections for more pixel-perfect results, aren’t coming until later point releases. Adobe is also promising updates across many of its other apps during Max, including an iOS and iPadOS-ready version of the group design app Adobe XD that will expand from prior previewing to allow live coediting between teams, emphasizing speed and efficiency. The desktop version of Photoshop will see improvements to its content-aware filling feature, and other Creative Cloud apps will each get individual tweaks to keep subscribers feeling like they’re getting some value from their annual payments. We’ll have more to share from Max as it continues on this week. Updated at 7:25 a.m. Pacific: Amongst dozens of other announcements today, Adobe also revealed a limited, invite-only preview of Photoshop Camera — a free iOS and Android app that will use its AI platform Sensei to automatically suggest edits and image filters based on identified subjects in the viewfinder. Adobe is partnering with artists and musicians such as Billie Eilish for the filters, as well as giving users the ability to create their own filters. Photoshop Camera is planned for general availability at some point in 2020. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Qualcomm reveals Snapdragon 7c and 8c for always-connected budget PCs | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/12/05/qualcomm-reveals-snapdragon-7c-and-8c-for-always-connected-budget-pcs"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Qualcomm reveals Snapdragon 7c and 8c for always-connected budget PCs Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Qualcomm's 8c and 7c processors are joining its previously announced 8cx as budget-conscious alternative laptop chips. Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship. Learn more. When Qualcomm announced a dedicated processor solution for laptops in 2018, the company said the Snapdragon 8cx would offer OEMs not only the world’s first 7-nanometer chip for Windows PCs, but also continued advancements on a “smartphone pace.” One year later, Qualcomm is introducing two new 8cx siblings — the Snapdragon 8c and Snapdragon 7c — though as their names suggest, they’re here to make Qualcomm PC chips more diverse with “various price points,” not move the platform forward. It’s worth noting up front that Qualcomm previously offered high-end smartphone processors to Windows laptop makers, later positioning the Snapdragon 8cx as an “extreme” computer-focused alternative to the Snapdragon 850 with Intel Core-caliber performance. Today’s announcements keep the 8cx at the top of the line, while the 8c is a step down — but still better than the 850 — and the 7c is closer to the company’s 7 series mobile processors. The lowest-end chip, Snapdragon 7c, is designed to bring up to twice the battery life and 20% better system performance to entry level laptops, as compared to budget Intel or AMD machines that deliver 6.5-hour battery life for Wi-Fi browsing. Qualcomm notes that cheaper laptops tend to be fairly heavy (5 pounds) and thick (21mm), in part due to big fans, which the 7c will eliminate. This chip includes an eight-core Kryo 468 CPU, an Adreno 618 GPU, and an AI Engine with over 5 trillion operations per second (TOPS), as well as a Snapdragon X15 LTE modem for always-on connectivity. By comparison, the Snapdragon 8c promises 30% better performance than the Snapdragon 850, including a 6 TOPS AI Engine, plus multi-day battery life. Like the 7c, it will achieve this performance without the need for a fan, enabling the laptop to be thinner and lighter than most Intel Core CPU-based laptops. The 8c steps up to a 2Gbps Snapdragon X24 LTE modem for superior cellular performance. Event GamesBeat at the Game Awards We invite you to join us in LA for GamesBeat at the Game Awards event this December 7. Reserve your spot now as space is limited! Qualcomm is now positioning the Snapdragon 8cx as an Enterprise Compute Platform, including connected security software and additional system-level optimizations that will eke out additional power from the processor. A 5G version of the 8cx is expected to be included in Lenovo’s Project Limitless laptop in 2020, while the Samsung Galaxy Book S includes the standard 8cx with the X24 LTE modem. GamesBeat's creed when covering the game industry is "where passion meets business." What does this mean? We want to tell you how the news matters to you -- not just as a decision-maker at a game studio, but also as a fan of games. Whether you read our articles, listen to our podcasts, or watch our videos, GamesBeat will help you learn about the industry and enjoy engaging with it. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Qualcomm's Dean Brenner explains 5G spectrum and the 'game changer' DSS | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/06/14/qualcomms-dean-brenner-explains-5g-spectrum-and-the-game-changer-dss"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Feature Qualcomm’s Dean Brenner explains 5G spectrum and the ‘game changer’ DSS Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship. Learn more. Understanding cellular technology begins with one key piece of information: Cell phones, personal hotspot pucks, and other cellular devices are all sophisticated two-way radios, such that each new generation (2G, 3G, 4G, 5G) adds additional ways to speed up the radio communications between your device and nearby towers. One way to boost speeds is to send more complex signals on a given radio frequency, another is to add more frequencies — more radio spectrum — so more signals can be sent at once. Because spectrum has become a major topic in the 5G era, we wanted to demystify it for readers by talking with an expert in the field. We spoke with Qualcomm senior VP of Spectrum Strategy and Technology Policy Dean Brenner, who has been a key advocate for improving cellular spectrum availability across the world. Here’s a transcript of our interview that has been lightly edited for clarity and flow. VentureBeat: Wireless engineers understand spectrum, but most end users have no idea what it is or why it matters. Could you provide a quick explanation of the concept for readers? Dean Brenner: Spectrum is the mother’s milk of wireless technology. The phone in your pocket has a radio inside, just like the radio that’s in a car. And that radio operates on different frequencies. Just like in cars, you change the dial from one radio station to another, and then what you’re doing is moving from one frequency to another. The same thing goes on when your phone is communicating with a cell tower or a small cell. Together, they’re using some part of the wireless spectrum, some radio spectrum band in order to communicate. Every single time you make or receive a call with your phone, you’re using some part of the spectrum. Initially, the first cell phones only used one spectrum. And in the 1G and 2G world, we started using multiple spectrum bands. And as things have gotten more complex — 2G, 3G, 4G — we add more and more different spectrum bands. As a chip vendor, we invest and do a huge amount of R&D to ensure that our chips work on all the different spectrum bands that are used for now 5G, 4G, 3G, and 2G — not just in the United States, but all over the world. Above: Radio waves range from a low 3 kilohertz (kHz) to a high of 300 gigahertz (GHz), but until 5G, no cellular devices went higher than 5 GHz, and then only for Wi-Fi. Some early 5G phones will be able to use up to 39GHz frequencies. VentureBeat: 5G phones are adding millimeter wave (24-39GHz) spectrum support. What else is happening in the spectrum world right now? Brenner: Whenever we launch a new technology, a new G, we start off and we launch it in new spectrum. And so we go to the FCC, we go to the spectrum regulators all over the world, and Qualcomm operators all over the world. And we find some new spectrum band or bands in this case, and we ask the regulators to make them available. When the spectrum is made available, the technology launches in a new spectrum band. Then we try to migrate the technology into existing spectrum bands, but the way that has typically worked in the past is you have to empty the band of the incumbent technology. For example, we couldn’t launch 4G in the bands that had 3G until there were so many 4G phones and 4G users out there who were using other bands that we could empty the legacy bands and then redeploy it. We call that process re-farming. It’s like re-farming a field: If the field is used for tomatoes, you can’t put corn there until you no longer have any tomato plants. And that’s really what’s gone on in the spectrum world. But for 5G, we have a game changer. And the game changer is a new technology called dynamic spectrum sharing , sometimes called DSS. It enables the phone and the base station to have 5G in a spectrum band that also has 4G users at a given location — as long as the base station is capable of supporting this feature, and as long as the phone does. You’ll start to see this in phones with a second-generation Qualcomm chip. Take a 5G phone with a base station in a spectral band that also has 4G users. The phone tells the base station, “Hey, I want to do 5G,” and the base station says, “Okay, let me let me segregate some piece of the spectrum in that location for you. Yeah, I can do that.” And, voilà, all of a sudden we have 5G in a band that’s used today for 4G. Why is that a huge game changer? Well, we’ve now taken the process, that re-farming process that typically could take 10 years, and we’re enabling it overnight. So that means all of the existing sub-6GHz spectrum bands that have great coverage, you’re going to see in the 2020 time frame — once our second-generation chip is out there in phones, and once the base stations are ready. This is going to be a gigantic game changer. It’s going to lead to much more rapid proliferation of 5G than you’ve seen in the past. Above: AT&T is now publicly differentiating between sub-6GHz “5G” and millimeter wave “5G+” spectrum. VentureBeat: Over the past four generations of cellular technology, spectrum wasn’t a consumer-facing issue. A phone was either “4G” or it wasn’t. That’s changed with 5G because there’s a big focus on how low-, midrange, and high-frequency spectrum have different pros and cons for 5G devices. W e’re now seeing some carriers use terms like “5G” and “5G+” to publicly distinguish two key types of 5G spectrum to consumers — medium-range, mid-speed “sub-6GHz” spectrum and short-distance but high-speed millimeter wave spectrum. Is this a positive or negative development? Brenner: I’m neutral on all that. I don’t know what marketing people at all these operators know about how to explain these things to the average person, so I’m going to approach that with a lot of humility. I agree with your premise — people don’t look under the hood. Everyone wants the best connectivity possible. In the history of the world, no one’s given a phone back and said, you know, the connectivity’s too good, I don’t need anything that works that fast. Everyone wants the best connectivity, and unlocking spectrum is absolutely a vital part of delivering that. Above: Korea Telecom (KT) announcing its imminent plan to launch a 5G network in South Korea at Mobile World Congress 2019. VentureBeat: The transition to this new cellular technology has been incredibly smooth, or at least it has seemed like that from the outside. I’ve heard that you’re apparently not a believer in the idea of a “5G race.” But when I think about what seems to have motivated policymakers, the idea of having a race that they need to finish first seems to have been working. What is your thought on the “5G race” — should it be a real thing or not? Brenner: What I’ve always said about the “race” is it’s a great metaphor. It’s a great 30-second sound bite, it’s a great bumper sticker. It’s something everyone can relate to — we’ve all been in races. The second thing is, we’re Qualcomm, and we want everyone around the world to have 5G as quickly as possible. The reason I push back on [the race metaphor] is it implies an ordering that if you’re not first, you’re out of luck, you’re somehow inferior, you’ve done something wrong. We’re not trying to have just one winner around the world; we want everyone to sail through the tape as a winner. So my problem with the race analogy is that I worry about the concept of branding countries or regions as, you know, second, third, fourth, fifth place. That’s my main problem with it. Having said that, we are very happy about how quickly 5G is launching all over the world. And in fact, it is a race. We have countries on four continents that have already crossed through the tape. But it isn’t just a one-time race, like a 100-yard dash. The deployment of new wireless technology is an ongoing process, and at Qualcomm, the first-generation phones are being launched, we’re already in production with chips for the second generation , and we’re deep into the planning for the third generation. So it isn’t a static one-time event. If it’s a race, it’s more of a perpetual race. It doesn’t have a starting point and an end date. Above: Qualcomm president Cristiano Amon shows off the company’s first live 5G reference phone design in December 2018. VentureBeat: Given that we’re taking a look at the international picture here, we have small countries in the Middle East that launched preliminary 5G very early, without actual devices to sell. Meanwhile, we have countries such as Russia , India , and parts of Europe that are sort of slowly moving toward 5G. What’s going on in countries that aren’t ahead of the curve on this? And why? Brenner: I’m not going to comment on Russia for a variety of reasons. But in prior generations, a big part of what a government affairs spectrum person would have to do would be to convince regulators why it’s important that their country or their region take a leading position in deployment in the launch. For 5G, everyone in the government — certainly everyone in the governments that I’ve had any dealings with, and again, I’m not talking about Russia — I’ve been all over the world since 5G was in formation, and I’ve never had to convince a regulator about why it’s important, or why it would drive economic growth in their part of the world. Everyone gets that, and back to the race metaphor, everyone wants to be at the forefront of 5G from a government point of view. So there are obvious practical — country to country, region to region — governance issues, all kinds of issues. But I don’t think there’s a lack of will in any government around the world about wanting to get 5G deployed for their citizens quickly. VentureBeat: So it tends to be more of just a bureaucratic question. Brenner: Yeah, unique, practical issues. VentureBeat: What’s going on with millimeter wave at this point? Has the pace of approvals cooled off at all? Brenner: I think that millimeter wave is firing on all cylinders. The European Commission just came out with the European-wide ruling on the 26GHz millimeter wave band. This is a normal process whenever a new G launches and, as you know, the first 4G phones are nothing like the 4G phones that are in our pockets today. This is absolutely par for the course, and we’re very happy with the way things are going. Obviously, everyone in the industry, especially the carriers, would like to hit the fast-forward button and drive more devices and deployments as quickly as possible. They’re investing billions of dollars to do that. So as far as I’m concerned, and as far as Qualcomm is concerned, I think we’re very happy with how quickly things have gotten out there, but you know, we never rest on any of that. Above: Most early 5G smartphones have been designed to operate on either millimeter wave or sub-6GHz 5G networks, not both, depending on where they’re sold. VentureBeat: Thinking back to prior phone generations, one of the big goals for each generation is a “world phone” — a phone that’s capable of working outside your home country on whatever the dominant new network standard is, pretty much everywhere in the world. How far are we from having such a thing for 5G? Brenner: I agree with you that’s what everyone wants, and the fact that we were basically able to achieve that — maybe not totally perfectly — for 4G is a phenomenal accomplishment. I can’t give you a date when that’s going to happen with 5G, but I think that’s absolutely a goal that is shared across the wireless industry. The fact that we have that for 4G, the fact that we don’t have a technology war with 5G — we have the 5G NR standard — and the fact that the spectrum, while not identical, is basically in common ranges, I think all that augurs very well to have that in place quickly. I can’t give you a date; I can’t say it’s going to be March 23, 2021 or something. But that’s not science fiction, that’s not a fantasy. That’s absolutely going to happen. I don’t have any doubt about that. VentureBeat: Will one phone be able to address all the sub-1GHz, sub-6GHz, and millimeter wave frequencies for 5G? Will most of the phones be capable of tuning across all those frequencies, or is it likely that a phone will address two of them at most and not be able to go up or down to the others? Where do you think that the hardware is going to be over the next couple of years? Brenner: Great question. Right now, we support both sub-6GHz and millimeter waves in the same Qualcomm 5G chip. VentureBeat: So users understand, a phone that’s capable of doing sub-6GHz generally is going to be able to reach down into the sub-1GHz bands as well. One pocket-sized device will be capable of containing all the antenna hardware that’s necessary to address everything from 600MHz all the way up to 28 or 39GHz? Brenner: Oh, yeah. It certainly is possible. We have these modules, these antenna modules that we invented , that are tiny, that have like seven or eight antenna elements. And then each of the first 5G phones that has a Qualcomm implementation has multiple, like three or four of these modules. So yes, the phone is definitely capable of doing sub-1GHz, mid-bands, and millimeter wave. Today, the first 5G phones are capable of doing that. With the second-generation and third-generation [chips], it’s more about adding complexity with carrier aggregation , and complexity on top of complexity. But the core idea that a phone needs to support all the legacy 4G bands and new 5G bands, that’s table stakes. VentureBeat: One last question — any further clues as to what Qualcomm’s third-generation 5G chip is going to bring to the table? Brenner: I don’t think we’ve announced the third-generation chip yet, so stay tuned for that. Usually we’re on a cadence, so I think we’ll probably talk about it in October. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Huawei hits record 5G speed of 3.67Gbps on live Swiss C-Band network | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/10/09/huawei-hits-record-5g-speed-of-3-67gbps-on-live-swiss-c-band-network"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Huawei hits record 5G speed of 3.67Gbps on live Swiss C-Band network Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship. Learn more. While most carriers in the U.S. initially focused on launching 5G networks based on short-distance millimeter wave hardware , Asian and European carriers have deployed 5G using “sub-6GHz” radio frequencies — longer-range signals that might compromise on speed. But Huawei today announced that it has achieved a 5G download speed milestone without using millimeter wave technology: 3.67 gigabits per second on a live 5G network in Zurich, Switzerland. The feat was achieved across multiple 5G smartphones connected to a single 5G cell on Swiss carrier Sunrise’s live commercial network, Huawei says, which is to say that the remarkable transfer speed isn’t theoretical or coming from a lab environment. Prior millimeter wave 5G tests run by carriers on live U.S. commercial networks have achieved speeds north of 2Gbps , though independent tests have generally seen low- to mid-1Gbps peaks — wireless speeds that are still much faster than the vast majority of U.S. home broadband connections based on wired hardware. Notably, Huawei’s 3.67Gbps speed was achieved using 100MHz of “C-Band” spectrum, a radio frequency range spanning 4GHz to 8GHz, as well as multi-user multi-antenna technologies. In the U.S., the FCC is presently looking to open the C-Band for cellular use as one of several viable compromise regions of spectrum that can deliver both raw performance and strong propagation characteristics — assuming an alliance of satellite and TV broadcasting companies already using the frequencies reach an agreement to partially vacate them. Huawei has suggested pairing 5G downloads using C-Band spectrum with uploads using lower, previously 4G radio frequencies to maximize overall performance. The embattled Chinese networking gear provider has previously described C-Band as “golden spectrum for 5G” and predicted that 100MHz blocks of the spectrum will be “the cornerstone for 5G business success.” Rival Qualcomm says existing 5G chips can reach 7.5Gbps peaks under ideally optimized network conditions. Sunrise has leveraged its partnership with Huawei to offer 5G in over 260 Swiss cities and villages, with a promise of bringing “maximum 5G speeds” to customers throughout the small country. The carrier claimed it was Europe’s first to launch a 5G network, though larger rival Swisscom was the first to actually offer 5G smartphones and 5G network access to paying customers at the beginning of May 2019. Before today, Sunrise promised users peak speeds of 2Gbps, but if today’s news signals anything, it’s that 5G’s numbers will continue to improve over time. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"FCC chair backs $9.7 billion plan to clear 3.7GHz C-band spectrum for 5G | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2020/02/06/fcc-chairman-backs-9-7-billion-plan-to-clear-3-7ghz-c-band-spectrum-for-5g"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages FCC chair backs $9.7 billion plan to clear 3.7GHz C-band spectrum for 5G Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Ajit Pai, Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship. Learn more. (Reuters) — Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai on Thursday proposed $9.7 billion in incentive payments to accelerate the freeing up of spectrum in the key C-band by shifting existing satellite users. The telecommunications regulator had told lawmakers last month it was considering proposing “single-digit billions” in payments. Major satellite firms, including Intelsat, are expected to back Pai’s proposal to shift them to different parts of the spectrum band, a person briefed on the matter said. Pai said in a speech on Thursday he backed the accelerated relocation payments to “make available the C-band for 5G deployment as quickly as possible” and to “align the satellite companies’ private interests with the public interest.” The C-band is a block of spectrum used by satellite company customers to deliver video and radio programming to 120 million U.S. households. Pai said an auction to use the freed spectrum will begin on Dec. 8 and is critical to the deployment of 5G wireless. Pai said he expects the actual costs of relocating satellite companies is in the $3 billion to $5 billion range. He said new satellites will need to be launched, and filters will need to be placed on earth stations to shift spectrum. Pai said he wants to fund transition and incentive payments with a surcharge paid by winners of an auction of 280 megahertz of the C-band. Major satellite service providers including Intelsat , Telesat , and SES , which form the C-Band Alliance, said last month they were seeking “fair compensation” to quickly clear the spectrum. They argue that without their cooperation, “this critical 5G spectrum will not be made available for at least 10 years.” U.S. Senator John Kennedy, a Republican, said the $9.7 billion figure “is much too high, and it’s highly unfair to those taxpayers.” He added, “We shouldn’t be in the business of spearheading Luxembourg bailouts when there are towns in Louisiana and across the country without access to broadband service.” Kennedy has proposed a bill with some Democrats to sharply limit how much in compensation satellite firms could receive. Pai said “if Congress wants to direct that auction proceeds be used to address national priorities like rural broadband, it will find no bigger supporter than me.” He said that even if the FCC moves ahead on the auction at its Feb. 28 meeting, “Congress could still require this year that auction proceeds be used to close the digital divide.” VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and Puyo Puyo 2 are coming to Switch thanks to Sega Ages | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2020/02/06/sonic-the-hedgehog-2-and-puyo-puyo-2-are-coming-to-switch-thanks-to-sega-ages"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and Puyo Puyo 2 are coming to Switch thanks to Sega Ages Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Press start to play. Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship. Learn more. Sega announced today that Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and Puyo Puyo 2 are coming to the Nintendo Switch on February 20. Each game costs $8. These are coming as part of the Sega Ages program, Sega’s initiative to release classic games on modern platforms. Lately, Sega Ages’ efforts have focused on Switch, with other retro hits like the original Sonic the Hedgehog, Phantasy Star, and Space Harrier making their way to the platform. These games also often release with new features. This version of Sonic 2 (originally released for the Genesis in 1992) includes a mode that lets you play as the powered-up Super Sonic from the very beginning. You can also enable the drop dash ability, which was introduced in Sonic Mania. You can also play the game as Knuckles without the need of your old Sonic & Knuckles cartridge. Puyo Puyo 2 is exciting because this will be the first time we’ve gotten the puzzle game in English. It came out in Japan back in 1994. This version of Puyo Puyo 2 includes online battles, a colorblind mode, a rewind feature, and online rankings. Event GamesBeat at the Game Awards We invite you to join us in LA for GamesBeat at the Game Awards event this December 7. Reserve your spot now as space is limited! This is exciting news for retro gaming fans. Sonic 2 is one of the best sidescrollers of the ’90s, and it’s a treat to finally get Puyo Puyo 2 in English. GamesBeat's creed when covering the game industry is "where passion meets business." What does this mean? We want to tell you how the news matters to you -- not just as a decision-maker at a game studio, but also as a fan of games. Whether you read our articles, listen to our podcasts, or watch our videos, GamesBeat will help you learn about the industry and enjoy engaging with it. Discover our Briefings. Join the GamesBeat community! Enjoy access to special events, private newsletters and more. VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Uber Pet launches so you know Fido can ride with you | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/10/09/uber-pet-launches-so-you-know-fido-can-ride-with-you"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Uber Pet launches so you know Fido can ride with you Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Uber Pet Are you ready to bring more awareness to your brand? Consider becoming a sponsor for The AI Impact Tour. Learn more about the opportunities here. Uber is piloting a new service in the U.S. called Uber Pet, one that allows riders to request a driver that has pre-agreed to accept pets. Compared to other expansions Uber has made of late, such as the Uber Works on-demand recruitment platform introduced last week, Uber Pet may seem like an incremental update. But when you consider the size of the pet industry, it really does make sense — 36% of households in the U.S. own a dog, meaning that Uber Pet could remove a fair bit of travel friction for a lot of people. Uber’s existing pet policy requires drivers to accept service dogs only — that is, dogs trained to help someone with a disability, such as visual impairment. Aside from that, it’s left to the driver’s discretion whether they accept a rider’s pet inside their car, which is why Uber has so far recommended that riders contact their driver in advance to let them know they’d like to bring an animal with them. With Uber Pet, the ride-hailing giant is now looking to smooth the communications process between riders and drivers regarding pet transport. Uber Pet has actually been made available previously in a number of Latin American countries, including Brazil and Mexico , as well as a handful of Asian markets. The service was launched in Singapore back in 2017, but when local ride-hailing company Grab took over Uber’s Southeast Asia operations the following year, Uber’s pet-focused offering seemed a casualty of the merger. Now Uber is preparing to bring the service to its biggest market — the U.S. Starting on October 16, riders in Austin, Denver, Nashville, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Philadelphia, Phoenix, and Tampa Bay will see a new Uber Pet option inside the ride-hailing app. By hitting this button, the rider agrees to pay a surcharge — between $3 and $5, depending on the city. Above: Uber Pet According to Uber, most of this surcharge will go directly to the driver, which should give them sufficient incentive to accept rides that include pets. Drivers are opted into accepting Uber Pet rides by default, but they can opt out from within the preferences menu of their driver app. It’s worth noting that Uber Pet doesn’t impact the company’s existing pet policy — Uber drivers are still required to accept all service dog rides, without any surcharges applied. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Uber grows customers and revenues, but net loss widens | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2020/02/06/uber-grows-customers-and-revenues-but-net-loss-widens"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Uber grows customers and revenues, but net loss widens Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi speaking at DLD Conference in Munich on January 22, 2018. Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship. Learn more. ( Reuters ) — On Thursday, Uber moved its target to achieve a measure of profitability forward by a year to the fourth quarter of 2020, but the ride-hailing company still expects to lose a total of more than $1 billion this year. Uber shares were up 5% in after-hours trading on the news, with CEO Dara Khosrowshahi saying the company would cut costs, aim to generate more repeat-customer business, and try to increase use of premium ride services. He also said Uber would accelerate growth at its loss-making food delivery business, Uber Eats, to become the top player in most of its worldwide markets, eventually increasing the segment’s margins, which are currently a drag on Uber earnings. Khosrowshahi revealed the new profitability target on a conference call with investors after the company reported results for the fourth quarter of last year, in which it continued to lose money but increased its customer base. Atlantic Equities analyst James Cordwell said the onus was now on management to deliver on that promise. In November, Uber promised to be profitable on an adjusted basis by the end of 2021, excluding expenses for stock-based compensation and other items. The company on said Thursday that it still expected an adjusted EBITDA loss of $1.25 billion to $1.45 billion for the full year of 2020. In the fourth quarter of 2019, Uber boosted its revenue on an increase in global monthly active users to more than 111 million, but high costs at Uber Eats meant it continued to lose money as it tried to outspend competitors. Some analysts remained skeptical about Uber’s continued investment in the highly competitive food delivery market. Eric Ross, an analyst at Cascend Securities, said he preferred the stock of Uber’s smaller ride-hailing competitor, Lyft, because it does not invest in expensive side projects. Uber has vastly diversified its business over the past five years. Besides expanding its food delivery segment , Uber is also developing self-driving cars , working on long-haul trucking operations , and even planning commercial passenger drone shuttles. Lyft is expected to report quarterly results on February 11. Cash burning In the fourth quarter, Uber’s total revenue rose 37% to $4.07 billion on a yearly basis, roughly in line with analyst estimates. But its net loss widened to $1.1 billion from a loss of $887 million a year earlier. Three-quarters of Uber’s revenue came from its ride-hailing service, and the segment had its best quarter yet, boosted by strong growth in its premium rides segment, including Uber Comfort, which transports passengers in larger cars. On its own, Uber’s ride-hailing business would be profitable, but the company’s total costs rose 25.2% to $5.04 billion in the quarter. While revenue at Uber Eats grew nearly 14% on a quarterly basis, spending on promotional incentives outpaced the segment’s revenue growth. Promotional costs as a share of revenue at Uber’s Eats grew 4% from the third quarter. In reaching its profitability goal, Uber has vowed to exit markets where it could not become the dominant food delivery player. The company in January sold its food-ordering business in India to local competitor Zomato, in exchange for taking a stake in the startup. The Indian business contributed only 3% of gross bookings in the first nine months of last year, but accounted for a quarter of the company’s adjusted operating losses. Investors welcomed the news as a sign of Uber prioritizing profit over growth, sending the company’s shares up on January 21, the day after the announcement. Uber’s business model, which depends on contractors transporting passengers and delivering food, is also under threat from regulators around the world as states and cities try to increase driver pay, lower congestion, and improve safety. Khosrowshahi said on Thursday that Uber was engaged in dialogue with regulators around the world and that he was hopeful the regulatory environment would improve. ( Reporting by Tina Bellon in New York and Munsif Vengattil in Bangalore, editing by Matthew Lewis. ) VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Uber taps ClimaCell to improve ETA estimates with hyper-local weather data | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2020/02/06/uber-taps-climacell-to-improve-eta-estimates-with-hyper-local-weather-data"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Uber taps ClimaCell to improve ETA estimates with hyper-local weather data Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn ClimaCell's HyperCast software Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship. Learn more. Uber is partnering with weather technology company ClimaCell to enable more accurate estimated time of arrival (ETA) predictions for drivers and riders. Founded in 2016, Boston-based ClimaCell specializes in real-time weather forecasts. Rather than relying on government data typically garnered from satellites, it leverages myriad sources closer to the ground. The company’s platform leans on data gleaned from the internet of things (IoT), which may include connected cars, drones, cameras, airplanes, cellular signals, and even more traditional sources. This big data melting pot is what ClimaCell refers to as the “Weather of Things.” In terms of how this fits with Uber and ride-hailing, well, the correlation between weather and traffic flow is generally well understood — research has indicated that rain can reduce traffic speed by up to 12%, for example. Snow, fog, and icy surfaces can also create more hazardous driving conditions, which can cause accidents, exacerbating already slowing traffic. But accuracy of the data is key, and real-time, hyper-local weather predictions can help industries such as aviation, construction, outdoor events, and transportation plan better. Uber will use ClimaCell’s HyperCast software, which includes a dashboard that displays minute-by-minute local weather data from around the globe, covering rain, lightning, air quality, and more. VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! Above: Uber will be using ClimaCell’s HyperCast weather software ClimaCell has raised nearly $80 million since its inception, with big-name backers including SoftBank and Ford. It has also nabbed a number of notable clients — airlines such as Delta, United, and JetBlue, as well as Amazon (AWS) and Ford. Big data is the secret sauce behind many modern digital services, from issuing life insurance policies to unlocking insights into cities and improving transport. Just last week, delivery and logistics giant UPS announced a new dynamic routing feature that combines real-time data points to find the optimum route for delivery drivers. Uber is no stranger to big data — it partners with third parties such as PredictHQ to forecast demand surges by aggregating data sets from events such as public holidays, observances, concerts, and festivals. And Uber has long used weather data to help estimate travel times. By tapping ClimaCell, Uber hopes to improve its predictive smarts and give everyone a better idea of how long their trip will actually take. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Uber goes old-school with telephone bookings in the U.S. | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2020/02/13/uber-goes-old-school-as-it-opens-to-telephone-bookings-in-the-u-s"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Uber goes old-school with telephone bookings in the U.S. Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Man wearing an Uber t-shirt Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship. Learn more. Uber shot to global prominence as a smartphone-native platform for hailing private cars, but the company is now going old-school by opening to telephone bookings in the U.S. Starting from today in Arizona, Uber users will be able to dial 1-833-USE-UBER from any mobile phone and speak with a live operator who will serve as an intermediary between rider and driver. The caller will need a phone with basic text-based messaging functionality, where they will receive key messages, such as their expected ETA, details about the driver and car, and the trip receipt. First-time users of this service will need to create an account by providing personal details, such as zip code and credit card information, to the operator — this will then be associated with the number they’re using to place the call. For all future trips, payment will be automatically taken from the rider’s account, as it would through the mobile app. There’s no additional charge for using the telephone service, beyond any standard carrier rates for sending text messages. Older adults Uber has previously tested a similar service in other markets around the world, including Mexico, Ukraine, India, and Egypt. But opening such functionality to its core domestic market in the U.S. represents a notable evolution for the platform — or regression, depending on how you look at it. Pew Research reports that 81% of U.S. adults own a smartphone and 13% own a non-smart mobile phone. According to the 2010 Census , an estimated 235 million adults live in the U.S., meaning at least 30 million people own a mobile phone that doesn’t qualify as a smartphone. As Uber battles widening losses in the hunt for profitability, opening to telephone-based bookings increases its potential market significantly. The new service is specifically aimed at older adults who have yet to embrace mobile internet, and Uber is very much positioning this offering alongside its other accessibility programs, such as Uber Assist. It’s also worth noting that Uber already offers a feature that allows anyone to order an Uber on behalf of someone else, meaning you can order a car for an elderly relative through the Uber app. And Uber offers browser-based bookings via m.uber.com, though this still requires the user to set up their own Uber account in advance. Telephone-based bookings help Uber target consumers who have yet to embrace any form of internet-based mobile technology and don’t want to rely on loved ones to book cars on their behalf. “This new feature combines the efficiency of Uber’s matching technology with the convenience and additional support of a live team member,” the company wrote in a blog post. “It was designed with older adults in mind, though our hope is anyone preferring conversational support will benefit from this pilot. We built it based on feedback from older adults who told us the live conversations and simplicity of experience can make a difference for their transportation needs.” Detox Another segment of society could find this new service useful. A growing awareness around smartphone addiction has led to more stripped-down phones arriving on the market to cater to a niche of people looking for “digital detox.” However, one of the underlying problems with these phones is that they lack the basic utilities we’ve become accustomed to, such as navigation tools, WhatsApp (or equivalent), and on-demand ride-hailing. Opening Uber to telephone bookings makes basic feature phones just that little bit more usable for anyone looking to wean themselves off their screen. The 1-833-USE-UBER service is open to all Arizona markets Uber currently operates in, and the company said it plans to expand the service to more states later this year after garnering feedback from the pilot. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Quantum Tech: esports investing hit $1 billion in 2019, revenues could be $4 billion in 2022 | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2020/01/23/quantum-tech-partners-esports-investments-hit-1-billion-in-2019-revenues-could-hit-4-billion-in-2022"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Exclusive Quantum Tech: esports investing hit $1 billion in 2019, revenues could be $4 billion in 2022 Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn $1 billion was invested in esports in 2019. Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship. Learn more. Quantum Tech Partners , a gaming-focused advisory group for financial deals, said in its first report that folks and firms invested $1 billion in the esports industry in 2019. Founded by M&A advisory experts Jim Perkins and Alina Soltys, the firm is also far more bullish on the outlook for esports revenues, as it expects the industry to reach $4 billion in revenues by 2022, far more than $2.96 billion predicted by Goldman Sachs and $1.79 billion predicted by market researcher Newzoo. Meanwhile, esports M&A hit $475 million in 2019, spread across 33 deals. Thirteen of these deals involved the acquisitions of esports teams, Quantum Tech Partners said. I interviewed the founders (who are based in Seattle and Scottsdale, Arizona) of Quantum Tech Partners recently about their views on esports. They formerly worked together at the Corum Group, which also focused on game M&A, and now they are turning their expertise to both gaming and esports deals. Event GamesBeat at the Game Awards We invite you to join us in LA for GamesBeat at the Game Awards event this December 7. Reserve your spot now as space is limited! Here’s an edited transcript of our interview. Above: Jim Perkins and Alina Soltys are the founders of Quantum Tech Advisors. GamesBeat: Can you start with explaining what Quantum Tech is and where you’re positioning the company? Alina Soltys: Quantum Tech Partners is a gaming-forward tech advisory group. Where we started — from the perspective of working directly with gaming studios, esports companies, gaming technology platforms, helping entrepreneurs and founders manage their teams, think about how to strategically grow, for ultimately impacting their exit opportunities and options. Ideally, where we fit in the grander scheme of the ecosystem is helping companies grow and also execute on significant financing, as well as full exit opportunities through M&A or majority acquisition. Our perspective in the space comes from gaming and technology. In the founding team here we have many decades of experience working with gaming companies. We’re super passionate about the gaming space and we have deep expertise and deep relationships across the globe. We also have experience working on the transactions that have mattered the most to a company’s overall history and trajectory, helping founders think through that. We’re overall proponents for the industry to continue to drive innovation and the right partnerships that create greater opportunities for the companies involved. Jim Perkins: We’re into the current disruption of the games industry right now. It continues. It’s generating a lot of opportunities for game development studios, technology platforms, and publishers. I haven’t seen this kind of disruption since the ‘90s, when we were working with some of the first-person shooter guys like Epic and id and 3D Realms. That got Alina and I excited about working together and having the flexibility to provide value to the game industry as a whole. We’re very passionate. We’re very big fans of independent studios. We wanted to fill that gap. We don’t see that kind of provider bringing services to the industry. Either you’re an agent or a research firm or whatever. But we wanted to go deeper and provide a higher level of experience and access to industry leaders for our partners. Above: Quantum Tech Partners is optimistic about esports revenue growth. GamesBeat: If we look at the different parts of the game industry, is there a sector that you see as the most active when it comes to the kind of disruption that can result in financing or M&A? Soltys: The area that’s getting the most attention is esports, within gaming. We have some specific data that talks about esports as a subset. I believe it has a lot of perspective from a funding side of things. We know almost a billion dollars went into esports as far as funding alone. As we’re starting to hit a cycle where those companies are becoming more mature and starting to develop valuable business models, as well as tech, the acquisitions pick up thereafter. From an M&A perspective, last year we saw 33 esports deals completed. Right now there’s a lot of interest and focus on the teams, either growing teams geographically or across multiple games. That has the highest level of interest, both from investors as well as–that was about 40 percent of the deals done last year. But if we look at it more holistically, there’s also a lot of great investment going into the underlying infrastructure that’s incredibly important to have available, both for engaging players and measuring what that engagement level is. From a distribution perspective, having the tech–Twitch and Facebook Gaming and YouTube and Mixer have really solid ways to distribute, but there’s also more to that. Layering on all the added services. There’s a lot of unique ways to slice and dice the esports industry, but from a gaming perspective, that’s definitely impacting the development of esports companies, where they’re starting to think about how to build platforms, how to build players, how to engage with an audience that might be outside of a game or thinking about your game in some way, and have a community that goes beyond just the gameplay in an individual session. We think it’s a positive. Part of the disruption that’s happening is also just a factor of what’s going across the broader industry. There’s a lot of great new studios and a lot of new technology that has to come up and support that element of growth. A lot of investors are coming back into the fold thinking about gaming not just as a subset of entertainment, but really the biggest entertainment segment that we have today. Perkins: A couple of other things we’re seeing in the marketplace–one is that there seems to be–in 2018 there was a bit of a lull in the Asian buyers that were coming to the market. At the end of 2019 we saw a lot of activity in that marketplace, and we’re seeing that right now. We have a number of discussions with studios and publishers and buyers in Korea and China that are becoming extremely active. There’s obviously many mega-deals happening, or at least pending, in the industry. That’s very exciting. As Alina mentioned, you have the esports side of it, which is very exciting. The fact that there are multiple distribution channels coming about, that gives the independent studios a choice of where they’re going to distribute their product, gain market share, and access user acquisition. That’s exciting. There’s nothing better than good competition there. That’s generating a lot of disruption in the marketplace. Epic has planned on doing that, and they’re doing a good job of providing opportunities. What we want to do is provide flexibility in terms of how we work with studios and with the industry, in terms of what works for them, how they can increase value through all the choices they have right now. Especially in the international market. Above: There were 33 esports acquisition deals in 2019. GamesBeat: The 33 deals in esports, what sort of context is there to that? I imagine that the year before, 2018, would have had less activity and fewer dollars involved. How does that compare to activity in the whole game industry? Soltys: From a broader gaming industry perspective, esports is about 20 percent of total gaming M&A in 2019, based on our proprietary research. That’s in dollars. What was funny about 2018 is there were three mega-deals there. You had Epic raising $1.25 billion, and you had both Douyu and Huya getting pre-IPO types of additional Series E and F financing. That skews the results for the year. 1 2 View All Join the GamesBeat community! Enjoy access to special events, private newsletters and more. VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Plague Inc. creator reminds us games have limits on what they can teach us | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2020/01/27/plague-inc-creator-reminds-us-there-are-limits-to-what-you-can-learn-from-games"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Plague Inc. creator reminds us games have limits on what they can teach us Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Plague Inc. Evovled Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship. Learn more. Plague Inc. creator Ndemic Creations announced on Friday that players should remember that their game isn’t a scientific model for how to deal with the coronavirus that broke out in Wuhan, China. For me, this is a reminder that there are things you can learn from video games, but there are limits to this as well. The idea behind this 2012 simulation game is to show what a worldwide pandemic would be like, but the company became concerned about the influx it saw last week as it became the top-selling app in China. The coronavirus has killed more than 80 people so far. The developer recommended that people who are inundating the company’s website and spiking interest in the game should check out official sources like the World Health Organization. The Centers for Disease Control answered a Q&A about Plague Inc. in 2013. The site for the game is functioning again. Event GamesBeat at the Game Awards We invite you to join us in LA for GamesBeat at the Game Awards event this December 7. Reserve your spot now as space is limited! “Plague Inc. has been out for eight years now, and whenever there is an outbreak of disease, we see an increase in players, as people seek to find out more about how diseases spread and to understand the complexities of viral outbreaks,” the studio said in a post. But the company said that while the game is realistic, it isn’t a scientific model of how the current coronavirus would unfold. In other news, the coronavirus in China has forced the closure of League of Legends and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive esports events in the region. The League of Legends Pro League (LPL) has postponed the second week events of its 2020 season until it can ensure the safety and health of players and fans. And the WESG esports event for CS:GO was also put on hold. What games can teach Games can teach us things, especially high-level concepts. The Climate Trail by William Volk is like the educational game The Oregon Trail, but its focus is on the disasters that could happen if the Earth’s climate warmed by 5 degrees Celsius. I played through the game recently, and it teaches a realistic view of whether people could survive a migration to colder climates like Canada. But for more information, it refers to a World Bank document. There are definite general benefits of playing video games. The engagement you get from games is also a reason that gamification has also taken off in the corporate world, whether it’s for training or education about harassment policies. Historical games like the Total War series are great at teaching history, but they may also veer away from history in the name of fun. Games that are designed from the beginning to teach have a better chance of being more educational, but they also run the risk of boring players. Hopelab showed it could teach kids about cancer with its game Re-Mission (2006) and Re-Mission 2 (2013), but it appeals to the concentrated audience of people dealing with cancer. I recall that I learned more about how taxes work from SimCity, when I played the city-building game decades ago. I could raise taxes so much, but at some point, my citizens started leaving the city to go to neighboring cities that had lower taxes. In a statement, the studio said: The Coronavirus outbreak in China is deeply concerning and we’ve received a lot of questions from players and the media. Plague Inc. has been out for eight years now and whenever there is an outbreak of disease we see an increase in players, as people seek to find out more about how diseases spread and to understand the complexities of viral outbreaks. We specifically designed the game to be realistic and informative, while not sensationalising serious real-world issues. This has been recognised by the CDC and other leading medical organisations around the world. However, please remember that Plague Inc. is a game, not a scientific model and that the current coronavirus outbreak is a very real situation which is impacting a huge number of people. We would always recommend that players get their information directly from local and global health authorities. You can find out more about the CDC and Plague Inc. here. You can find out more information about Coronavirus here. GamesBeat's creed when covering the game industry is "where passion meets business." What does this mean? We want to tell you how the news matters to you -- not just as a decision-maker at a game studio, but also as a fan of games. Whether you read our articles, listen to our podcasts, or watch our videos, GamesBeat will help you learn about the industry and enjoy engaging with it. Discover our Briefings. Join the GamesBeat community! Enjoy access to special events, private newsletters and more. VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Former Facebook exec wants to help tech workers challenge their bosses on climate change | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2020/02/24/former-facebook-exec-wants-to-help-tech-workers-challenge-their-bosses-on-climate-change"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Former Facebook exec wants to help tech workers challenge their bosses on climate change Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn FILE PHOTO: An array of solar panels is seen in the desert near Victorville, California, U.S. March 28, 2018. Are you ready to bring more awareness to your brand? Consider becoming a sponsor for The AI Impact Tour. Learn more about the opportunities here. ( Reuters ) — Facebook’s former sustainability chief has launched an organization to help employees at big companies press their bosses for more aggressive policies to fight climate change. Hundreds of companies have committed to reducing emissions in their own operations in line with the 2015 Paris Agreement, in which governments aim to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius. Beyond their own operations, however, many companies have refrained from advocating for the broader solutions needed to avoid a global catastrophe, said Bill Weihl, who led sustainability efforts at Facebook and Google and will head the new organization, called ClimateVoice. Employees at tech companies have objected to selling cloud services to the oil industry, and companies are reticent to exert lobbying influence on behalf of specific legislation. “When it’s an issue that might be really important for society but doesn’t directly affect them, by and large most companies are silent most of the time,” said Weihl, who left Facebook in 2018. ClimateVoice is launching as a volunteer effort but aims to raise funds and hire staff soon after launch. Weihl said it will seek to organize and amplify climate activism among tech employees to push executives to lobby on behalf of legislative efforts around climate. Workers have become a key constituency in the climate change debate, particularly at the biggest tech companies. Microsoft and Amazon announced more ambitious emissions targets after employees made their concerns publicly known. Bruce Hahne resigned as a technical program manager at Google this month and criticized the company in a public letter for selling technology to the energy sector to more efficiently produce fossil fuels — echoing concerns raised by workers at Amazon and Microsoft. “We’re dying by fire, and the Google Cloud oil and gas sales vertical is pouring on the gasoline,” Hahne wrote. Google representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment. ClimateVoice initially intends to advocate for legislation at the U.S. state and regional levels, instead of the U.S. Congress. The group could be useful in providing employees with a list of policy priorities to raise with their bosses, Hahne told Reuters. It could also help bring together workers at different companies, who could work together on proposed bills with less fear of management retaliation. “ClimateVoice is going to need to design sets of tactical behaviors that work well with cultures of the organizations, and that are safe,” Hahne said. ( Reporting by Dan Levine, editing by Greg Mitchell and David Gregorio. ) VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Panic, not the COVID-19 coronavirus itself, may wreck tech in 2020 | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2020/02/27/panic-not-the-covid-19-coronavirus-itself-may-wreck-tech-in-2020"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Opinion Panic, not the COVID-19 coronavirus itself, may wreck tech in 2020 Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn FCC Chairman Ajit Pai speaks at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain on February 26, 2018. Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship. Learn more. To be very clear up front: The COVID-19 coronavirus has largely earned its fearsome reputation. As of today, at least 2,800 people have died, and 82,000 have been infected. These are real people with families and communities that will never be the same, due as much to individual fatalities and quarantines as broader societal panic and disruptions. So when I think about COVID-19, my primary concern is at the human level, and sorrow for those whose lives have been ended or disrupted. That having been said, it became impossible this week to ignore the coronavirus’ broader impacts on the global economy, particularly within the technology sector. Earlier this month, MWC (formerly Mobile World Congress) exhibitors scaled back and pulled out one by one until the massive, important telecom industry gathering was cancelled. Game industry trade shows PAX East and GDC have subsequently lost marquee participants — including some that barely had to travel — due to COVID-19 fears. Today, Facebook cancelled its F8 developers conference , which was scheduled for May. And the July/August 2020 Olympics in Tokyo are said to be at risk of cancellation as well. In each case, calling off or scaling back an event has massive costs and only one upside: precluding a gathering from becoming the origin point of another outbreak. Balancing risk and reward, some organizers and partners view the guaranteed financial disruption as unwarranted given the speculative nature of the threat. Immediately before MWC’s cancellation, the city of Barcelona insisted that it was currently safe (and it almost certainly was), but the open question was whether that would continue to be the case if 150,000 people traveled to the city from all across the world, including China, then co-mingled in close quarters for several days. Cancelling MWC was rougher for the tech world than most people fully appreciate. Putting aside complaints that companies couldn’t enjoy the networking (and Spanish tapas) that only a gathering in Barcelona can offer, the bigger picture is that MWC 2020 was supposed to be the international coming out party for 5G — the event where so many carrier, device, and service announcements were made at once that 5G’s global impact this year would be unquestioned. Instead, many companies were forced to cancel or reschedule their press conferences, issue more limited announcements , and hope that prerecorded or virtual demos might have the impact of live ones from MWC’s floor. VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! MWC is also an event where major deals get signed. Once attendees can physically inspect new offerings and talk directly to key executives or engineers, long-gestating partnerships are finalized in actual contracts, and early collaborative intentions become formalized in memorandums of understanding. There’s certainty in having C-level participants meet face to face and reach agreements — opportunities that Ericsson, Huawei, Nokia, Qualcomm, and Samsung can use to make big agreements for the supply of infrastructure hardware and devices. Nixing the Olympics over COVID-19 is another story entirely. Billions of dollars are invested in just the digital infrastructure for Olympic events , and Japan has spent years preparing to officially debut its national 5G cellular and 8K video offerings at the 2020 Olympics, only modestly acknowledging pressures to move up its timetable. These and other new technologies were expected to be some of the biggest non-sporting stories at the Olympics, helping to spur global awareness and consumer adoption during the second half of the year. As of today, it doesn’t seem likely that COVID-19 will actually spread through the Olympics. Given the current growth rate of cases , affected geographies, and high percentage of people who survive rather than succumb to the disease, there’s reason for optimism that the outbreaks will taper off before then instead of getting progressively worse. Even so, there’s more than human lives and new product publicity at stake for the tech world. Panic over the coronavirus is directly impacting tech companies’ manufacturing and sales. Apple’s Chinese factories delayed their post-Lunar New Year reopenings due to fears over potential outbreaks, and it shut its retail stores in the country due to various practical considerations, leading to a rare quarterly revenue projection cut. Nvidia and other companies have started to slash their earnings expectations, as well. For now, there are signs that companies’ operations (and profits) are largely normal outside of China, but there will certainly be trickle-down effects on global product availability if Chinese factories can’t fully get back online soon. There’s no easy answer to resolving the tension between exercising due caution and getting back to work — there may be no “correct” time, and what seems wise or unwise at one moment may be revealed to be the opposite weeks later. Moreover, as MWC and Barcelona illustrate, there may never be a way of definitively knowing what would have happened if a cancelled event instead carried on as planned, or if a closed factory resumed production earlier. Given the spread of the disease and the risks to both human lives and the global economy as a whole, my hope is that each company or event organizer’s decisions on whether to move forward are made by cool heads using fact-based science and good information. Regardless of what’s ultimately decided in each case, a transparent and rational process would go a long way towards inspiring confidence in the outcomes, and eventually moving everyone away from the current state of global panic. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"GDC 'postponed' as multiple participants pull out over coronavirus fears | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2020/02/28/gdc-postponed-as-multiple-participants-pull-out-over-coronavirus-fears"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages GDC ‘postponed’ as multiple participants pull out over coronavirus fears Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn GDC Summer is coming in August. Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship. Learn more. Organizers are pulling the plug on the 2020 Games Developer Conference for now. Fears related to the spread of coronavirus have led multiple major companies to pull out of the important industry event. This left GDC with a difficult choice. It could hobble forward without key participants, or it could cancel this year’s gathering. In the end, it went with something in between. Here’s the statement from the organizers : “After close consultation with our partners in the game development industry and community around the world, we’ve made the difficult decision to postpone the Game Developers Conference this March.” “Having spent the past year preparing for the show with our advisory boards, speakers, exhibitors, and event partners, we’re genuinely upset and disappointed not to be able to host you at this time.” Organizers say they are planing to hold a GDC event yet this year. “We fully intend to host a GDC event later in the summer,” reads the statement. “We will be working with our partners to finalize the details and will share more information about our plans in the coming weeks.” Event GamesBeat at the Game Awards We invite you to join us in LA for GamesBeat at the Game Awards event this December 7. Reserve your spot now as space is limited! GDC is one of the biggest and most important annual meetings of the people who make games. Developers and publishers attend with the goal of sharing hard-earned lessons and best practices. It’s also crucial for networking and for developers looking for work and publishers looking to sign new games. GDC couldn’t survive coronavirus or its panic GDC’s postponement comes as concerns about coronavirus grow. The virus, which transmits the flu-like COVID-19 disease, has already led to massive, city-wide lockdowns in China. And governments in South Korea and Italy are asking employees to work from home where possible. As part of its response, Japan is shutting down all of its schools for a month. In response to those fears, companies like Microsoft, Sony, Unity, Epic Games , Electronic Arts, and more all dropped out of GDC. Sony even pulled out of the PAX East fan gathering that is happening now in Boston. But coronavirus has not yet spread in the United States … at least, as far as anyone knows. While the U.S. has only seen 60 confirmed cases, many health professionals are not ordering testing in every possible circumstance. If you have flu-like symptoms but haven’t traveled to China or contacted someone who has, it could take longer to detect active COVID-19. That’s what happened with one case in Northern California. UC Davis Medical center only caught that instance because of “astute clinicians.” Postponing GDC means that game developers won’t have to rely on astute health workers to minimize their chances of infection. What does the GDC postponement mean for refunds and reservations? GDC posted answers to frequently asked questions. If you are a registered attendee, you will get a refund in full if you choose to do so. Some attendees will also get to move their hotel reservations without issue. “If you are a currently registered passholder, you will be receiving an email about your registration status and any next steps regarding refunds, which conference and expo attendees will be receiving in full,” reads the FAQ page. “Individuals who have made hotel reservations inside the GDC room block will not have to pay penalties or fees associated with their reservations.” Organizers say that they are also planning to make more of GDC’s closed sessions available free online. But this postponement is still going to lead to many people losing money on hotels and travel. To help alleviate that, the International Game Developers Association and GameDev.World are partnering to raise money to cover some of those costs for creators. GamesBeat's creed when covering the game industry is "where passion meets business." What does this mean? We want to tell you how the news matters to you -- not just as a decision-maker at a game studio, but also as a fan of games. Whether you read our articles, listen to our podcasts, or watch our videos, GamesBeat will help you learn about the industry and enjoy engaging with it. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Gen.G esports group names Chris Park as CEO | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/01/15/gen-g-esports-group-names-chris-park-as-ceo"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Gen.G esports group names Chris Park as CEO Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Chris Park is CEO of Gen.G. Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship. Learn more. Esports organization Gen.G has named Chris Park as its CEO, while founding CEO Kevin Chou will assume a new role as executive chairman. Park will join the Los Angeles-based Gen.G , which owns the esports team Seoul Dynasty, one of the founding teams in Activision Blizzard’s Overwatch League. (Chou will be a speaker at our upcoming GamesBeat Summit, April 23-24, in Los Angeles). Park comes from a long career in sports business leadership and building innovative brands, most recently from Major League Baseball, where he served since 2015, most recently as executive vice president of product and marketing. “I can’t express how thrilled I am about this new journey into the esports world with Gen.G,” said Park, in a statement. “Having spent years with a traditional sports league, it was evident that competitive gaming was booming — well now it’s here and here to stay. I look forward to continuing to build an esports powerhouse in Gen.G, especially here in the U.S. and specifically L.A.,setting the bar for what a gold standard organization should look like.” Event GamesBeat at the Game Awards We invite you to join us in LA for GamesBeat at the Game Awards event this December 7. Reserve your spot now as space is limited! Park will be setting and guiding the day-to-day execution of Gen.G’s strategy in a close partnership with Chou, and as chairman, Chou will remain active in leading the board of the company he cofounded. During his tenure with Major League Baseball, Park paid close attention as esports grew into a formidable counterpart to the more traditional sports leagues. Above: KSV’s Seoul Dynasty Overwatch team. KSV recently changed its name to Gen.G esports. “We are extremely excited for Chris to join Gen.G and lead us to new heights,” said Chou, in a statement. “He has a brilliant mind for growth and innovation, and we look forward to him applying his great skill set with Gen.G. We have big goals for 2019 and beyond, and Chris is the right person to lead us into the future.” Park will relocate from New York City to Gen.G’s new headquarters in Los Angeles, while also spending time in Seoul, Korea, as part of his onboarding. In other organizational moves, Kent Wakeford is transitioning to vice chairman. Gen.G renewed its sponsorship relationship with Netgear’s Nighthawk Pro Gaming, brought on the NBA forward/center Chris Bosh as player management adviser, and formed an all-female Fortnite team. Competitively, Gen.G’s PUBG and Heroes of the Storm teams claimed championships, and the company said its Seoul Dynasty and League of Legends teams are poised for big years in 2019. “Chris possesses the vision, creativity and work-ethic to level up everything we do here at Gen.G,” said Arnold Hur, the chief growth officer for Gen.G esports, in a statement. “Given his experience, understanding of the sports business, and passion for competition, we know that Chris will make an effortless transition. I speak for everyone here at Gen.G when I say he’s a perfect fit for our organization.” Park has also worked for Facebook and McKinsey & Co., and he clerked for Judge Stephen F. Williams on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. He is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School. GamesBeat's creed when covering the game industry is "where passion meets business." What does this mean? We want to tell you how the news matters to you -- not just as a decision-maker at a game studio, but also as a fan of games. Whether you read our articles, listen to our podcasts, or watch our videos, GamesBeat will help you learn about the industry and enjoy engaging with it. Discover our Briefings. Join the GamesBeat community! Enjoy access to special events, private newsletters and more. VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Kabam and esports veteran Kevin Chou turns to blockchain games with Forte startup | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/02/21/kabam-and-esports-veteran-kevin-chou-turns-to-blockchain-games-with-forte-startup"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Exclusive Kabam and esports veteran Kevin Chou turns to blockchain games with Forte startup Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Kevin Chou (left) and Kent Wakeford said goodbye to Aftershock and Kabam this week. Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship. Learn more. Kevin Chou has made his mark with Kabam in mobile games and Gen.G in esports. And now he has gathered his crew together for another startup, a blockchain gaming company called Forte (pronounced for-tay ). Chou’s founding team comes from Kabam, GarageGames, Unity, and Linden Lab. They’ve listened to the siren song of blockchain and have gathered to create a platform offering for game developers to accelerate adoption of blockchain technologies supporting peer-to-peer economies within new and existing games. (Chou will be a speaker at our GamesBeat Summit 2019 event on April 23 and April 24 in Los Angeles; early bird discounts expire on Friday). Not everybody thinks blockchain games are going to be a magical thing, since blockchain — a decentralized immutable ledger — has mostly been used to create secure and transparent cryptocurrencies. It has also been associated with the crypto bubble and bust, and a number of scams related to startups raising money via initial coin offerings. Event GamesBeat at the Game Awards We invite you to join us in LA for GamesBeat at the Game Awards event this December 7. Reserve your spot now as space is limited! Above: Kent Wakeford, former chief operating officer of Kabam, at GamesBeat Summit. Others who have studied blockchain and games say it benefits the infrastructure for games (like stores, collectibles, or item trading), but it doesn’t necessarily change games themselves. But Chou isn’t deterred. He has proven to be a visionary before, heading teams that created mobile games like Marvel Contest of Champions that were played by hundreds of millions of people over the past decade. “The emergence of free-to-play and cloud gaming let us deliver games on Facebook and on mobile,” Chou said in an interview with GamesBeat. “But while we got hundreds of millions of people to play, a very small percentage paid. So the incentives for the game developer were very hard to align with the incentives for the players. It devolved into ‘pay to win'” schemes that left many users frustrated. “Many of the devs we talk to share frustration with the way free-to-play economies have to be run now,” Chou said. But with blockchain, Chou believes peer-to-peer trading and economies can correct some of those wrongs and minimize risks for various parties. He thinks it has transformative potential for nearly all forms of digital interaction, in particular in games where digital transactions represent an $80 billion industry, or 80 percent of global games revenue, and engage roughly 2.5 billion people. “What we see is the opportunity to bring people who made game engines and games before to using blockchain for peer-to-peer economies within games,” Chou said. How games can benefit from blockchain Above: Brett Seyler is chief platform officer of Forte. Forte’s mission is to accelerate the adoption of blockchain technology in the games industry by creating decentralized products and solutions that make it easy for game developers to use blockchain in their games. An example: In a multiplayer game, players form clans. The clans might be able to use blockchain rewards or items to incentivize their own players to go on a quest or do something for the clan. That means the players would have control over what happens with the blockchain items, rather than just the game developers. Forte will bring these offerings to market through a combination of building, incubating, and funding promising teams and projects. The company already has about 70 people, said Chou, who grew Kabam to $400 million in annual revenue and 1,000 employees before selling it in various parts for close to $1 billion Netmarble and FoxNext. He also cofounded Gen.G , the esports organization, with former Kabam chief operating officer Kent Wakeford. Gen.G recently named Chris Park as CEO, freeing Chou and Wakeford to start Forte. Wakeford is also joining Forte, as are ex-Kabam executive Weiwei Geng and ex-Unity executive Brett Seyler. Seyler will be chief platform officer at Forte. Mahesh Vellanki, formerly of Redpoint Ventures, an early backer of Kabam, is also joining Forte. “The microtransaction-driven game industry has matured and consolidated, and as a result innovation has grown stagnant. Blockchain technology offers new growth vectors and an opportunity to do things differently,” said Chou. “We are focused on making blockchain technology ready for the mass market and working closely with developers to create player-driven game economies that benefit both players and developers.” While the games industry continues to grow worldwide, growth is slowing and continued consolidation has seen 77 percent of global game industry revenue captured by just 25 companies, according to market researcher Newzoo. This increased competitive pressure among free-to-play game developers has resulted in more aggressive monetization patterns, leaving many players feeling burnt and disappointed by new products. Blockchain technologies create opportunities to align developers with their players with increasingly player-driven peer-to-peer economies, Chou said. “Peer-to-peer economies have historically proven a tremendous and expensive challenge for game developers to support without negative player experiences due to fraud and dependence on misaligned actors,” Seyler said. “The atomic unit of innovation inherent in blockchain substantially resolves these risks and unlocks vast potential for new types of game economies. We expect its application to be as transformative for the games industry as free-to-play business models have proven over the previous decade’s double-digit growth.” Additional announcements and product rollouts will be revealed in the coming months. Forte is based in the financial district in San Francisco. Chou said that news of funding and partnerships will come in the near future. Chou said the team has been working for a while, evolving plans and exploring the technology. While others are focused on bringing better security, scalability, and throughput to blockchain transactions, Chou said. As for the blockchain skeptics out there, he said, “It can be very confusing. There are a lot of different disciplines from cryptocurrency to economics to tokens and ICOs. The right way to do game economies Above: Kevin Chou, the CEO of social game company Kabam, during his chat at GamesBeat 2013. “From the highest level, we focus on the same type of incentives for game developers and players,” said Seyler, who made more than 50 free-to-play games over the course of a decade. “Managing a game economy is hard to get things to line up. That’s where the concept of peer-to-peer trading comes in. With games like World of Warcraft and Counter-Strike, you had to trust the company to continue to allow the trading of skins to happen. But in those cases, the game developer didn’t make as much money on an item trade as they did when they sold a brand new weapon in the game. So a company might come out and say you can’t do this trading.” For game companies that run their markets with command-and-control precision, it’s hard to give players the freedom they want. It’s also hard to balance the game for both older players, who have paid for a lot of stuff, and relatively defenseless players who are new to the game. Virtual worlds like Second Life encouraged item trading and item creation. But there’s also a risk of counterfeiting in secondary markets. “Second Life is more of a free market and a good example,” Seyler said. With the unique identification possible with blockchain, that risk can be minimized. Players can transact with each other in ways that the game publisher cannot control. “We think the best solutions for games will apply a bunch of solutions, depending on use case that the developers want to implement,” Seyler said in an interview. Chou added, “A big part of what we are doing is building out tech to demystify this for game developers, so they don’t have to understand throughput, latency issues, and other things without having to go super deep.” I noted that the blockchain opportunity is muddied because of the crypto bust and the fraud, much like it was hard to sort out the winners and losers in the middle of the dotcom bust of the early 2000s. But Seyler said he believes the winners and losers in blockchain will shake out faster than the dotcom days, when it was hard to convince consumers to buy things online and trust web sites with credit cards. “A lot of innovative work is happening in software,” said Chou. “In the dotcom days, they were trying to figure out how to connect the internet across continents. My view is it will happen faster” with blockchain. And games can lead the way, in part because gamers have proven so fearless in adopting new technologies, Chou said. Others believe the same thing. Tron started a $100 million fund to invest in crypto games. And Unity teamed up with cryptocurrency maker Kin to embed crypto payments in games. GamesBeat's creed when covering the game industry is "where passion meets business." What does this mean? We want to tell you how the news matters to you -- not just as a decision-maker at a game studio, but also as a fan of games. Whether you read our articles, listen to our podcasts, or watch our videos, GamesBeat will help you learn about the industry and enjoy engaging with it. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Esports organization Gen.G gets $46 million in funding from Will Smith and Stanford | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/04/17/esports-organization-gen-g-gets-46-million-in-funding-from-will-smith-and-stanford"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Esports organization Gen.G gets $46 million in funding from Will Smith and Stanford Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Gen.G is the new name for KSV Esports. Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship. Learn more. The esports organization Gen.G announced today it has a completed a $46 million funding round that includes actor Will Smith as an investor. Gen.G, formerly KSV Esports, started in 2017. Its executive chairman and cofounder Kevin Chou was also the co-founder for mobile developer Kabam. It has teams competing in notable competitive games Overwatch, League of Legends, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, Clash Royale, Fortnite, Call of Duty, and Apex Legends. The money will help Gen.G open its Los Angeles headquarters, which is coming in July. Gen.G is also creating a youth esports academy program. The founding will also help Gen.G’s global expansion. The organization has teams in U.S., China, and Korea. Along with Smith, Japanese soccer star Keisuke Honda invested via her Dreamers Fund, and Los Angeles Clippers minority owner Dennis Wong also contributed. Other investors include New Enterprise Associates (NEA), Conductive Ventures, Battery Ventures, Canaan Partners, SVB Capital, Stanford University, former chairman of U.S. investments at Alibaba Group Michael Zeisser, and MasterClass co-founder and CEO David Rogier. Event GamesBeat at the Game Awards We invite you to join us in LA for GamesBeat at the Game Awards event this December 7. Reserve your spot now as space is limited! “We are grateful for the support of a remarkable group of investors that is as diverse as the future of esports itself,” said Gen.G CEO Chris Park in a press release sent to GamesBeat. “Our partners in this round share Gen.G’s mission to reimagine sports entertainment as only an authentically global esports organization can.” GamesBeat's creed when covering the game industry is "where passion meets business." What does this mean? We want to tell you how the news matters to you -- not just as a decision-maker at a game studio, but also as a fan of games. Whether you read our articles, listen to our podcasts, or watch our videos, GamesBeat will help you learn about the industry and enjoy engaging with it. Discover our Briefings. Join the GamesBeat community! Enjoy access to special events, private newsletters and more. VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"What KamaGames learned from its failed cryptocurrency experiment | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/02/08/what-kamagames-learned-from-its-failed-cryptocurrency-experiment"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages What KamaGames learned from its failed cryptocurrency experiment Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn KamaGames is a social casino game maker. Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship. Learn more. Last August, KamaGames , a big European operator of social casino games, said it is moving into blockchain and cryptocurrency with the launch of its own KamaGames Token. The idea was to make it easy for the company’s 100 million social casino game players to buy in-game currency for the game Pokerist, using any kind of currency they wanted for the purchase. But the experiment was a big hassle, and it turned out to be disappointing, said Andrey Kuznetsov, CEO of KamaGames, in an interview with GamesBeat. That was a letdown after predictions that games and other apps would drive cryptocurrency and blockchain to become a $60 billion industry, according to an October report by DMR Business Statistics. For Kuznetsov, the jury is still out on whether it’s going to be a valuable and long-lasting addition to the sector as a whole. In games, crypto was hailed as a way to make in-game transactions easier and safer. By getting people to buy tokens, Dublin-based KamaGames hope to bolster engagement, brand loyalty, and drawn new users. It was following the lead of companies like PayPal, Red Bull, Swarovski, and Kik. For KamaGames, the move into crypto and blockchain had little to do with raising money. The company made it clear from the onset that the objective of the token sale was not to attract the interest of investors or their financial backing. Nor did KamaGames look for speculator interest related to the token. It did not plan to list it on any of the crypto exchanges. Event GamesBeat at the Game Awards We invite you to join us in LA for GamesBeat at the Game Awards event this December 7. Reserve your spot now as space is limited! Based on blockchain technology and the Ethereum platform, KamaGames Tokens were primarily designed to give players the best possible return on in-game currency purchases as well as guaranteed bonus chips every day. KamaGames Tokens were to be available as a collection of in-game chips sold in a bulk block at the best price possible. These chips will then grow in value every day. Players would be rewarded for leaving their tokens untouched, with an expected 11-fold growth if they do so. Last fall, the company tested the waters for interest in blockchain. Players said they wanted to use cryptocurrency to buy the tokens for KamaGames’ Pokerist app. But actual demand for the KamaGames token sale was less than its most pessimistic projections. That was measured in terms of the number of actual crypto payments made, the volume of new users attracted, additional revenue generated, and improvements in player retention and engagement. Part of the reason may have been the broad decline in cryptocurrency prices. But Kuznetsov decided developing a social casino product on the blockchain makes little sense considering the priority for most social casino players is simplicity and speed. Blockchain doesn’t make that happen. In fact, KamaGames found Ethereum took too long to do transactions. KamaGames needs about 1.5 million transactions per minute. While the conversation around blockchain and cryptocurrencies won’t dissipate anytime soon, it is clear that they may not be widely adopted by the gaming industry in the near future, Kuznetsov said. Here’s an edited transcript of our interview. Above: Andrey Kuznetsov, CEO, KamaGames GamesBeat: I was reading about your experience. It’s a good description of what happened with your tokens. Could you describe where we left off and how things went in your own words? Andrey Kuznetsov: I’ll start from the reasons we decided to do this market experiment. First of all, being an innovative company, we constantly do a lot of R&D. We test many different things, even some things that aren’t related to games. We did some experiments in the past with messaging platforms, with social networks. The token sale was a part of another experiment in the blockchain and crypto spaces. In 2016 and 2017, and even a bit earlier, we were observing what was going on with blockchain and cryptocurrencies. We looked at the technology and we thought that if there was a benefit for us to come up with blockchain games — poker or any other social casino games — we’d decide to introduce it eventually. There were some technical limitations. We have more than 1.5 million transactions per minute, and at that time there was no blockchain that could guarantee that. There are probably some now, but not at that time. The other concern was how to do a proper RNG on blockchain. There are, again, some solutions available at the moment, but we haven’t come up to testing them yet, because there was no reason to do so. The third thing was, what is the actual demand for these games? What would be the benefits to players and us as a company? Unfortunately we found neither demand nor direct benefit, to players or to us. Now we come to the crypto part. We received a number of requests from our players to accept cryptocurrencies as a payment for our in-game virtual currencies. We never did that, and we don’t do it now, but we decided to do a short-term marketing campaign to see what the actual demand would be. If the demand was high, then we could probably implement some solution on a permanent basis. From time to time we get outreach from providers who could offer such services. We decided to do that short campaign, and that was part of the token sale. GamesBeat: What next? Kuznetsov : The second thing was just to see how the industry works, how complicated it is, and what the audience is like. Who are the users? What are their values and requirements? What do they need and what do they want? That’s why we decided to do a hands-on experiment there. Another thing was, we wanted to see if we could attract a new audience, more new players, outside our conventional user acquisition channels. We believe the demographic of our players is quite similar to the demographic of crypto users. We also wanted to reward our existing players with something new, offer them this kind of proxy to chips. That would increase retention, because the token was designed such that holders could get additional bonuses every day for just holding tokens. Meanwhile, the exchange rate between tokens and virtual chips is growing over time, so they could eventually get more chips. At the same time, we tried to return our lost players, especially players, who might have played with us in the game for some time and left. We tried to bring them back with our usual instruments — push notifications, emails, sales and promotions — but the ones that never came back, we tried to offer them some free tokens. It’s a new marketing approach. Maybe we could bring them back and then sell them more. As we mentioned a number of times, a decent part of our revenue growth over the last three years has been personalized sales and promotions. Now we do that four or more days a week. The key is to target people properly, to personalize as much as possible, to deliver the right message and the right proposal to every player. Here we created another promotional campaign where players could buy our chips through the token as a proxy for the best possible price. They could hold it and receive even more chips. It was a very good offer. 1 2 3 4 View All Join the GamesBeat community! Enjoy access to special events, private newsletters and more. VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Tech companies built infrastructure for billions to view the Winter Olympics | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2018/02/09/tech-companies-built-infrastructure-for-billions-to-view-the-winter-olympics"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Tech companies built infrastructure for billions to view the Winter Olympics Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Intel's drones were one of the highlights of the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics. The Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea will begin tonight, and by the time they’re done, more than 4 billion people will likely have watched the various athletic events. Technology is integrated into the show, including the dazzling lighting effects in the Opening Ceremony, as well as the 1,200 “shooting star” drones that Intel used to create aerial images such as the Olympic rings. Alibaba is providing the cloud service and ecommerce for the Olympics and is sending several hundred employees to South Korea to handle the operations. The effort is a dry run for China’s turn hosting the Winter Olympics in 2022. Atos, a French information technology company, is handling IT for the event. Atos has moved all of the critical IT systems to the cloud — a first for the Olympics — as cloud computing has become the most efficient way to distribute digital entertainment. “This is what we call the digital transformation of the Olympic games,” said Marta Sanfeliu, Atos’ chief operating officer for the Olympics and major events, in a press briefing. “It’s a real journey.” Above: Atos charted the evolution of IT for the Olympics. The Olympics employs about 200,000 people in 37 countries. The Pyeongchang games will include 36,000 volunteers, 3,500 technical staff, 4,500 athletes, 12 venues, and 50 critical IT applications. About 25,000 media professionals will be attending. There will be about 4 billion worldwide viewers across 250 digital platforms, and digital coverage of the events will likely be twice the TV coverage. Atos, which has been involved in the Olympics since 1989, will run about 100,000 hours of testing on the cloud infrastructure for the games. Back in 1992, with the Barcelona Olympics, the servers were all run on local physical services. Now, the various cloud-based systems are much broader, and those systems have to deal with tasks such as enabling websites, mobile distribution, apps, social media, live results, and cyber security. “Setting up these environments in a new place every two years is very difficult,” Sanfeliu said. Intel will enable fans to watch Olympics content in virtual reality, and the company will be deploying drones to shoot footage. Samsung provided athletes with SmartSuits that have sensors to capture the metrics of their movements for training and race-time analysis. And the International Olympic Committee has worked with Intel and Korea Telecom to create 5G wireless infrastructure at select Winter Games venues. Intel also launched more than 1,200 drones to light up the skies with images of a snowboarder and the Olympic rings. Above: Comcast will have a variety of navigation screens to sort through the programming. Comcast, meanwhile, will be broadcasting the Olympics via its NBCUniversal division. The company began work building its infrastructure for the Olympics 18 months ago. It has created on-demand channels so you can view all of the Olympic events in their entirety, regardless of what is showing on primetime TV. You can use the Xfinity Sports App on mobile to watch livestreams or on-demand archives. NBCUniversal will deliver 2,400 hours of live, on-demand, and online streaming coverage across 102 events. It will be encoded in 4K HDR at 20 megabits a second. And the 60 percent of Comcast’s 22 million subscribers with Xfinity X1 set-top boxes will get access to 50 custom “virtual” channels that are like a video Pandora, or continuously rotating YouTube channels — collections of related videos so you can watch one stream after another. Above: U.S. downhill and Super G skier Laurenne Ross tries out VR skiing. For fans who are at the event, Visa will be showing off 1,000 contactless payment terminals throughout the venues. The athletes are also benefitting from technology. Ralph Lauren is giving them parkas with built-in heating systems so they won’t be shivering all the time. The parkas have batteries that last for 11 hours and three heat level settings. The U.S. skiers and snowboarders also benefited from virtual reality training systems that immersed them in the Pyeongchang area slopes. On a more sobering note, McAfee warned that fans both onsite and at home need to be wary of Olympics-related bait from cyberattackers. The U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US CERT) also issued warnings for fans — advising safety measures like turning off Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connections for smartphones when they’re not in use. “Unfortunately, in the heat of an exhilarating victory or crushing defeat, common sense often goes out the window,” said Eric Cole, former chief technology officer at McAfee, in an email. “Don’t let yourself get so carried away that you forget that the bad guys are just waiting for you to slip up.” Cole says the public should stay off public Wi-Fi, use only one credit card, avoid ATMs, and be careful when using social media and email. “If you’re halfway around the world in South Korea, do you really want others to know that your house might be unattended?” Cole asked. “They will, if you post photos and updates from the Olympic venue on social media. Wait until you get home to post your photos. Be extra vigilant about emails, especially those that might point you to tempting sites for discounted event tickets or offer ‘exclusive’ information about scores or athletes. Don’t click on links or downloads, even from people who appear to be someone you know — they could be the adversary trying to trick you. Stick to text communication only in your emails.” VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Tokyo will use facial recognition for security during the 2020 Olympics | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2018/08/07/tokyo-will-use-facial-recognition-for-security-during-the-2020-olympics"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Tokyo will use facial recognition for security during the 2020 Olympics Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn NEC Green Rockets' rugby player Teruya Goto poses with the face recognition system for Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics, which is developed by NEC, during its demonstration in Tokyo, Japan. Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship. Learn more. ( Reuters ) — Tokyo 2020 will be the first Olympics to use facial recognition technology to increase security around all venues, the organizers announced on Tuesday. Games organizers have linked up with Japanese telecommunications and information technology giant NEC to develop the first system of this kind to be implemented at an Olympics. The technology, which was demonstrated to the media at an event in the Japanese capital, will use IC chips within identification cards to automatically verify the identity of those entering over 40 venues. More than 300,000 athletes and Games staff will have to submit photographs to a database before the Olympics start in July 2020. VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! “Every time they enter the facility, they have to do a security check,” explained Tokyo 2020’s head of security Tsuyoshi Iwashita. “Tokyo’s venues doesn’t always have enough space for the security check or even space to wait for the security check. When the events are happening, we expect many people to come and the weather will be very hot. This is why we introduced this facial recognition.” The system will not be aimed at spectators and will instead concentrate on strengthening security and decreasing waiting times for athletes. “More than 40 facilities, including the main stadium, International Broadcast Centre, the Olympic village and so on, will have the facial recognition system,” said NEC Senior Vice President Masaaki Suganuma. “Athletes, Games staff, volunteers and the media will have this recognition.” NEC said they tested the technology during the Rio 2016 Olympics and that the technology has already been implemented in various locations, including airports. During the demonstration to media, the technology correctly identified a string of people, including those in wheelchairs and of varying heights, which is a key feature of NEC’s system. ( Reporting by Jack Tarrant; Editing by Amlan Chakraborty ) VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Huawei racks up 5G network deals at MWC 2019 despite U.S. pressure | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/02/27/huawei-racks-up-5g-network-deals-at-mwc-2019-despite-u-s-pressure"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Huawei racks up 5G network deals at MWC 2019 despite U.S. pressure Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Huawei @ MWC 2019 Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship. Learn more. The United States spent 2018 mounting a historic international lobbying effort to stop Huawei hardware from being used in 5G network buildouts, but cellular carriers appear to be sending a message at this year’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona: Huawei is here to stay. For now. As the mobile industry’s top annual event for carriers and hardware providers, MWC typically gives Huawei a great opportunity to shine on the global stage. Last year, the Chinese company signed agreements to bring its 5G hardware to Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, as well as winning eight awards from industry association GSMA for its contributions to the mobile industry. That was before the Trump administration doubled its efforts to convince international allies to shun Huawei hardware. Over the past 12 months, U.S. security agency heads, members of Congress, and former officials crisscrossed the globe with warnings that the Chinese government could use Huawei’s gear to surveil and control 5G cellular networks — a security risk that the world can’t afford in the next era, as personal devices, cities, factories, and transportation infrastructure become 5G-connected. Huawei has roundly and repeatedly denied the accusations , most recently claiming that there is “no evidence” to support the U.S. government’s accusations. In response to the lobbying effort, several countries banned Huawei’s 5G gear, but others took a wait-and-see approach. At MWC 2019, Huawei took home another five GSMA awards across a wide collection of categories, and more importantly, the 5G deals continued. Rain announced that it’s using Huawei solutions in South Africa’s just-launched first 5G network, and Swiss carrier Sunrise said it’s using Huawei gear to commence commercial 5G service next month. Huawei also announced similar 5G hardware deals with Bahrain’s VIVA , Iceland’s Nova , Indonesia’s Telkomsel , Malaysia’s Maxis , Saudi Arabia’s STC , and Turkey’s Türk Telekom. While bigger carriers are absent from that list, the show is still in progress, and it’s highly likely that Huawei gear will make its way into more 5G networks than those already announced. Despite continued pressure from the U.S., including a recent threat not to share sensitive U.S.-gathered intelligence over insecure networks, even close allies such as the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, and South Korea haven’t fully shut Huawei out yet. Some are trying to find alternatives to completely blocking Huawei’s fast, aggressively priced hardware from their carriers’ 5G buildouts, such as using security standards to pre-certify Huawei gear or limiting Huawei hardware to only non-core network elements. Others have concluded that there is no way to integrate the company’s products into networks without risking at least surveillance of 5G communications, if not greater potential threats. For now, it appears developing countries — even those as large as India — are all but shrugging off U.S. concerns. Several officials have openly suggested that they’re not concerned about abstract security threats from Chinese-made networking hardware, particularly given their positive official relationships with China’s government. Thailand has said that it is concerned, but is testing Huawei gear to “confirm or disconfirm the allegations.” At this point, the question is whether the U.S. will make a stronger case to get its allies to avoid Chinese gear, or whether it’s done pushing. Although the U.S. has presented its concerns as non-partisan and apolitical, there is a possibility that the seemingly intractable dispute with Huawei will abruptly be resolved, just as the smaller Chinese cellular company ZTE was somehow rescued at the very last minute from a full U.S. ban last year. Thanks to the arrest of a key executive and other issues, Huawei’s situation won’t be as simple to resolve as ZTE’s, but under the Trump administration, it’s impossible to rule out the chance of a “fix” of some sort. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Everything Facebook announced at F8 2019 | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/05/02/everything-facebook-announced-at-f8-2019"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Everything Facebook announced at F8 2019 Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn The future is private, according to Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship. Learn more. At its annual developer conference this week, one thing was clear: Facebook wants to be seen as a privacy-focused platform. As laughable as that may seem to some, it’s a message the company started really pushing back in March. And with F8 2019 now out of the way, we’re going to see the social network giant double down on efforts to align itself with privacy, both in terms of user experience and behind the scenes. With that in mind, Zuckerberg outlined six core principles that he plans to embed across the company’s products: private interactions, encryption, reducing permanence, safety, interoperability, and secure data storage. After F8, we now know that default end-to-end encryption is coming to Messenger and Instagram, much like the setup that already exists within WhatsApp. But the biggest reveal — though not a complete bolt out of the blue — is that people will soon be able to send messages to each other across Facebook’s three core messaging services: WhatsApp, Messenger, and Instagram. Many other tidbits emerged from the two-day gathering in San Jose — after all, this event wasn’t exclusively aimed at privacy advocates. Event GamesBeat at the Game Awards We invite you to join us in LA for GamesBeat at the Game Awards event this December 7. Reserve your spot now as space is limited! Here we take a brief look back at all the major announcements to emerge from F8 2019. Messenger Above: Facebook Messenger: Watch together Ahead of the event’s official start, Facebook — accidentally, it seems — detailed some major upcoming updates to its Messenger app. This will include a new “watch together” social feature that lets Facebook users enjoy the same videos simultaneously, even while separated by continents. And there will be a bigger focus on connecting with close friends. The company also highlighted a new desktop Messenger app that’s coming up later this year, in addition to Project LightSpeed — a lightweight Messenger app built atop “an entirely new code base.” Elsewhere, Facebook announced a new appointment-booking feature for the Messenger bot platform. Available for Messenger’s 300,000 bots, the new tool could help accelerate the adoption of bots among the 40 million businesses that use Messenger to communicate with their customers. Instagram Above: Donation stickers in Instagram Stories. Instagram is now looking like one of Facebook’s best pieces of business, after it bought the photo-sharing network for $1 billion seven years ago. At F8 2019, Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri revealed that three major enhancements are coming to the platform: curated product collections, donation stickers, and a revamped camera interface. In even bigger news, Mosseri also revealed a new pilot Instagram is kicking off in Canada this week that will hide the total number of Likes received by photos and videos from public view. It’s similar to something Twitter is also dabbling with on its social network, with the idea of shifting attention away from popularity to focus on the quality of the content itself. Facebook Above: The new Facebook on desktop. Amidst all the hullabaloo around VR, privacy, and interoperability, it’s easy to forget about Facebook’s bread-and-butter social network. At F8 2019, Mark Zuckerberg announced that a big design overhaul is coming to Facebook’s web and mobile apps , one he called “the biggest change to the app and website in the last five years.” The revamp is designed to make it easier to find and connect with relevant Facebook Groups and Events, with improved suggestions, browsing, and discovery tools. The redesign will be landing in the U.S. soon, with other regions following in the coming months. Facebook expanded into dating last year, and at this year’s F8 the company revealed that Facebook Dating is landing in 14 new countries — though it’s still limited to Asia and Latin America. Those who can access Facebook Dating will also now be able to use a new “secret crush” feature that connects two people who have privately expressed lust for each other. Other notable Facebook-specific news to emerge from F8 this year included a redesign of Workplace by Facebook — the enterprise version of Facebook — that will place more focus on chat, News Feed, and groups. A new Notifications tab has also been added to the mix and is designed as an inbox for all mentions relevant to you or your department. Finally, Facebook’s Craigslist-like Marketplace will soon enable sellers to ship their items anywhere in the U.S., while buyers will be able to pay for goods directly inside Facebook. WhatsApp Messaging apps got their share of attention at F8 this year, and that included WhatsApp. Facebook announced a new software development kit (SDK) that developers can use to integrate WhatsApp verification into Account Kit for iOS and Android — essentially, this means third-party apps can now give new users the option to use WhatsApp to receive verification codes when signing up. Above: WhatsApp Verification Facebook also teased a new tool called Product Catalog, which will allow WhatsApp users to see what products are available from companies that participate in WhatsApp Business later this year. The final piece of WhatsApp news was related to Facebook’s Portal smart display. Mark Zuckerberg revealed that Portal will soon support WhatsApp video calls , and all video calls through Portal will come with end-to-end encryption. Related to this, Facebook announced that Portal will soon be expanding beyond the U.S., starting with Canada and followed by Europe later this year. VR and AR Above: No wires. No external sensors. Facebook subsidiary Oculus opened preorders for Quest and Rift S VR headsets — with shipping kicking off on May 21 and 53 games available at launch. GamesBeat said in its review that the Oculus Quest “addresses everything that’s wrong with PC and mobile virtual reality” by cutting cords and placing sensors on the device. And our interview with Oculus’ director of content ecosystem , Chris Pruett, made it clear what Quest buyers should expect in terms of power, positioning, and value. In the augmented reality (AR) sphere, Mark Zuckerberg announced on stage at F8 2019 that Facebook’s Spark AR Studio app creation platform will finally offer support for Windows , in addition to other new features, with plans to open Instagram to the entire Spark AR creator and developer ecosystem later this year. Elsewhere, Ronald Mallet, a researcher at Facebook Reality Labs, discussed how Facebook is building safety and empathy into its AR/VR avatars and shared spaces. AI Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly becoming the cornerstone of just about every modern industry, and Facebook has been at the forefront of many cutting-edge developments over the past few years. With that in mind, Facebook used F8 2019 to announce a new machine learning experimentation tool called Ax, which helps AI developers experiment with adjusting things like learning rates and dropouts to see which approaches produce the most effective AI models. Ax sits on top of deep learning framework PyTorch, which Facebook uses internally to power AI services such as PyText. At F8 2019, Facebook launched PyTorch 1.1 with support for TensorBoard. Elsewhere on the AI front, Facebook outlined progress it has made in using AI to combat abuse and bias across the platform — including fighting election interference, the spread of misinformation, and hate speech. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Japan's 2020 5G plans may be delayed by South Korea trade conflict | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/08/05/japans-2020-5g-plans-may-be-delayed-by-south-korea-trade-conflict"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Japan’s 2020 5G plans may be delayed by South Korea trade conflict Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Samsung's pitch for the Galaxy S10 5G offered little reason to prefer it over 4G models. Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship. Learn more. Japan’s plan to launch commercial 5G services in 2020 devolved from ambitious to laggard when carriers in the U.S., South Korea, China, and Europe moved up their 5G launch dates, but until now there wasn’t much question of Japan achieving its goal. Unfortunately, company officials are now warning that a trade conflict between Japan and key 5G device supplier South Korea could starve the island nation of the hardware needed for its launch. According to the Korea Times , worsening conflict between the Japanese and South Korean governments is threatening the recently positive relationship between Japanese and South Korean telecom companies, as Japan has removed South Korea from a whitelist of trusted trading partners and South Koreans are contemplating boycotts of both Japanese companies and the upcoming Tokyo Summer Olympics. The Olympics kick off in late July 2020 and were supposed to be Japan’s showcase for next-generation technologies, including 5G cellular service and 8K video broadcasting. For Japan, the transition to 5G has been particularly challenging, as once-omnipresent domestic technology companies such as Sony and Sharp have lagged well behind South Korean and Chinese rivals in announcing 5G devices. Consequently, Japan’s largest carrier — NTT Docomo — planned to work with Samsung on its 5G device offerings, and last month it launched a special commemorative Galaxy S10 Plus — notably not the Galaxy S10 5G — to mark their collaboration ahead of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. The carrier had previously selected Nokia for its 5G network hardware needs. “Even if Japanese mobile carriers complete the construction of 5G networks,” an unnamed South Korean telecom official told the Korea Times , “they will not be able to drum up new 5G subscribers without 5G smartphones.” As the report notes, South Korean-made phones such as the S10 5G and LG V50 ThinQ 5G are presently the only 5G phones available globally, while Chinese options from Huawei are rolling out but unlikely to make inroads in Japan due to U.S. security concerns. A lot could change over the next year: Trade issues could dissipate, 5G hardware from other companies could become available, or Japan could untether its 5G launch plans from the Olympics. One unlikely possibility could see Apple modestly push up its release date for the first 5G iPhones to late July to meet Japan’s needs. Though the company has historically held firm to early September launch dates for its new smartphones, iPhones are particularly popular in Japan, and Apple might be tempted by the opportunity to grab market share that would otherwise go to Samsung or other rivals. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"SoftBank reportedly accelerates Japan's 5G network plans by 2 years | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/09/17/softbank-reportedly-accelerates-japans-5g-network-plans-by-2-years"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages SoftBank reportedly accelerates Japan’s 5G network plans by 2 years Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son speaks at Mobile World Congress 2017 in Barcelona. Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship. Learn more. While carriers in other countries quickly sped up their 5G network rollouts to take advantage of early ratification of the international 5G standard, Japan largely held to its plan for a 2020 initial deployment timed to coincide with next year’s Summer Olympics in Tokyo. But Japanese carriers are now beginning to move up their dates, Nikkei reports, such that SoftBank will likely complete stage one of its rollout two years early, with rivals KDDI and NTT Docomo considering following suit. The development continues Japan’s good news/bad news approach to 5G, which has seen the country fall behind long-time technology rival South Korea, thanks to the latter’s aggressive development and deployment of 5G technologies. Korean carriers have already signed up well over a million 5G customers, and top vendor Samsung alone has sold over 2 million 5G handsets worldwide , with plans to sell 4 million by the end of 2019. But trade conflicts between Japan and South Korea have threatened to starve Japan of Korean 5G technologies. SoftBank will still launch commercial 5G in March 2020 with network hardware from Ericsson and Nokia, notably using AI-backed multiple antenna arrays to deliver strong performance in urban areas. Unfortunately, that launch will be far from nationwide in scope. According to today’s report, the carrier now plans to increase staffing and construction efforts so it can finish its early rollout by the first part of 2023 rather than 2025, covering around 60% of Japan with 11,210 base stations. Nikkei reports that KDDI and NTT Docomo may also shift their 2025 timelines up to match Softbank’s. By contrast, Rakuten — a retailer that hopes to become Japan’s fourth major carrier — has pushed back its own network rollout plans, now targeting a mid-2020 commencement date and 2024 timeline for full service. The company planned to launch 4G and 5G services using Japanese-made base stations from NEC rather than relying on Korean gear or banned Chinese-made alternatives from Huawei but has apparently met with practical challenges. Japanese carriers have long been planning splashy high-profile rollouts of 5G and related technologies in time for the Summer Olympics, which kick off in late July. NTT Docomo picked Nokia as a base station provider back in 2018 and has demonstrated an 8K 3D stereoscopic VR system capable of streaming live events to viewers. Japan’s government has prepared for a massive surge in 5G interest by rolling out 14-digit phone numbers capable of accommodating 10 billion devices within the country. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"A quick 5G guide: Separating reality from hype | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/10/25/a-quick-5g-guide-separating-reality-from-hype"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Analysis A quick 5G guide: Separating reality from hype Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Verizon's booth at MWC Los Angeles offered more concrete examples of how 5G will be used than any other exhibitor at the show. Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship. Learn more. Exactly one year ago, I wrote about the onset of “fake 5G news” — the increasing use of 5G as a buzzword to attract attention to otherwise non-5G products and services, which was already happening before 5G devices became available. Back then, Xiaomi lured media to an event for “the world’s first 5G commercial mobile phone,” then instead showed off a 4G phone with the promise to be first to 5G in 2019 — something that didn’t happen, as its Mi Mix 3 5G wound up shipping in May. Just as predicted, their “world’s first” claim was all hype. On a positive note, 5G has become so real over the past year that there isn’t a need to focus on stories like Xiaomi’s any more: Every week brings plenty of actual developments that are worth reading about. But there’s still a lot of quasi-5G news out there, and the line between what’s real and what’s hype isn’t as sharp as it could be. So here’s a quick guide to where things stand with real 5G and 5G hype as we head into the end of 2019. It’s based on the very latest information I’ve gathered from multiple companies in the 5G space, as well as my own experiences and hands-on tests. Event GamesBeat at the Game Awards We invite you to join us in LA for GamesBeat at the Game Awards event this December 7. Reserve your spot now as space is limited! Live 5G networks: Real You can debate how widespread or performant they are, but there are now live 5G networks all over the world, and coverage continues to improve every week. Three of the top four U.S. carriers are already offering consumer 5G service in multiple cities, generally at speeds that blow 4G away, and 5G has already launched in parts of Europe, Asia, and Australia — often with even better average speeds than U.S. users are seeing. 5G might not be in your neighborhood, city, or country yet, but it’s coming; expect additional 5G launches before the end of the year. The only question is how much faster it will actually be than 4G when it arrives for you, and the answer is likely to be “6 to 7 times” better on average , with peaks from 10 to 30 times better than 2018/2019-vintage 4G. Actual 5G devices: Real Globally, there are 20 or so actual 5G devices available for purchase as of today. Smartphones are probably the best known and most popular, but there are also multiple 5G hotspots and 5G broadband modems (known as “consumer premises equipment” or CPEs). In the United States, Verizon alone is currently selling three 5G phones, two 4G phones with an optional 5G backpack, one hotspot, and multiple 5G CPEs for home use. Some European and Asian carriers are now offering five or six different 5G phones, including models that aren’t available in the U.S., and China is soon expected to have an even wider array of options. Prices have come down, too. You can now get a super-fast 5G phone for less than the price of a 4G-only iPhone 11 Pro. Even more affordable 5G devices will continue to hit stores throughout the end of 2019 and beginning of 2020. 5G virtual and augmented reality: Hype for now There are no true 5G VR or AR headsets in the marketplace, nor has any such product actually been announced to the best of my knowledge. Literally every VR or AR headset currently on the market uses Wi-Fi and/or a wired connection for data. If you hear something about a supposedly “5G” VR or AR headset, you can be certain that it’s at best using a 5G-to-Wi-Fi hotspot for data, or otherwise in a prototype state that’s not ready for actual purchase by either consumers or businesses. That will change over the next couple of years, particularly after 5G networks add lower-latency hardware and software to support the high frame rates and data demands of XR devices. Before that, we’ll likely see quasi-AR handheld solutions implemented in 5G phones and tablets. But for now, true 5G VR and AR are firmly hype. Above: Arkanoid Rising on Hatch 5G gaming: Just barely real Normally I’d call 5G gaming “hype for now,” as the version of it that is arguably most appealing — streaming live, fully responsive PC- or console-quality games to any otherwise “dumb” screen with a controller over 5G — isn’t quite here yet. It’s close, as Nvidia is actively working to bring its GeForce Now service to 5G, while Google, Microsoft, and Sony have their own cloud-based streaming services that could all move over to 5G when the network infrastructure is ready to support them. But there is an actual 5G gaming service, Hatch , which streams mobile-quality games to mobile devices over Sprint’s 5G network. Assuming you have a live network connection, it’s virtually indistinguishable from having a library of games directly on your device — but expectations for mobile games are pretty low. So 5G gaming is real, but whether that’s “real 5G gaming” is up to you. 5G retail and shopping: Hype for now It’s obvious from the emails I receive and news articles I read that marketers are salivating over the opportunity to insert “5G” into shopping stories. But it’s all hype for the time being. The actual interplay between 5G and shopping isn’t instantly obvious. At MWC LA this week, Verizon offered demos where a 5G phone could — in real time — be used to peruse nutritional data for multiple products on supermarket shelves, including the ability to flip through several different types of information for each product. This is technically “just” augmented reality, so why is 5G needed? As the Verizon representative explained, the quantity of data used for each product’s augmentation was way higher than one might have guessed: a multi-layer video stream rather than just a flat image or text. Being able to simultaneously (and quickly) identify multiple products from a huge potential catalog and stream new content in and out for each also requires more than trivial transfers of data. 5G’s pipes and speed will make this possible in real stores with real phones. It’s just a question of when. Above: A holographic call using 5G enables a young soccer fan to meet and interact with a British soccer captain. 5G holographic video: Hype Holograms in the way people tend to think of them — ghostly images that float in the air — have been the stuff of science fiction for decades, with only the most limited and generally unimpressive real-world applications (see: Sega’s Holosseum ). Forty years after R2D2 projected a pleading hologram of Princess Leia during a pivotal scene in Star Wars, similar technology still hasn’t made its way into consumer devices. Cellular carriers and 5G engineers suggest that’s going to change, though it remains to be seen whether there will actually be a consumer volumetric display technology to support it. Intel showed off Looking Glass’ expensive 3D display at Siggraph , while Red crashed and burned with the supposedly holographic screen in its Hydrogen One phone , neither of which was quite as cool as the “live holographic call over 5G” Vodafone teased last year. The enabling technologies for capturing and broadcasting volumetric 3D versions of people and objects are very real, and rapidly shrinking from room-sized down to phone-sized. But it remains to be seen whether the broadcasts will be viewed solely on tiny 2D smartphone screens, through 3D AR glasses, or using large-scale projection systems. In any case, 5G or similarly high-bandwidth, low-latency data pipes will be necessary to bring them to life. 5G cars, cities, and industry: Hype for now One year ago, there was a lot of excitement over 5G’s transformative potential across virtually every conceivable industry, as well as transportation, cities, and public spaces. CEOs and policymakers spoke of 5G as the fountainhead for the “ fourth industrial revolution ,” and carriers such as Verizon held joint press conferences with mayors to herald each breakthrough deal with the “first 5G cities.” I’m not going to say that excitement has dimmed for any of these subjects, but between the current state of 5G standards and the pace of various cities and industrial players, the best way to describe these initiatives is “in progress.” The enhanced, ultra-reliable low latency form of 5G required for industrial IoT, massive city-scale 5G IoT, and 5G cellular vehicle communications are all coming in the next 5G standard update, Release 16 , which is currently expected to be completed in June 2020. Today’s lack of actual 5G cars, 5G cities, and 5G industrial sensors doesn’t mean that they’re all strictly hype, but the reality is that there’s going to be a lot more talk about what’s coming later on these topics than what’s coming soon — even if developments are portrayed as imminent. Between now and then, there are going to be lots of studies, tests, and pilot launches announced, to say nothing of pie-in-the-sky concepts that are even less likely to become tangible over the next few years. Whether they’ll actually be worth reading about remains to be seen. But I’ll be doing my best to keep you focused on all the key 5G developments as they happen. GamesBeat's creed when covering the game industry is "where passion meets business." What does this mean? We want to tell you how the news matters to you -- not just as a decision-maker at a game studio, but also as a fan of games. Whether you read our articles, listen to our podcasts, or watch our videos, GamesBeat will help you learn about the industry and enjoy engaging with it. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Docomo's 5G-based 8K VR event streaming service will launch in March | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2020/01/23/docomos-5g-based-8k-vr-event-streaming-service-will-launch-in-march"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Docomo’s 5G-based 8K VR event streaming service will launch in March Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship. Learn more. After nearly two years of development, Japanese wireless carrier NTT Docomo announced that it will launch an 8K VR event streaming service in March, showcasing the bandwidth and latency capabilities of 5G cellular technology. The 8KVR Live service will offer pay-per-view access to live venues, enabling users of 5G smartphones and VR headsets to witness concerts and other events from their viewing angle of choice in real time. 8KVR Live will be part of Docomo’s Shinkansen Live Connect service, a name referencing the super fast bullet trains that connect Japan’s major cities. “Toward the 5G era,” the company explains, “we aim to provide a place where everyone can enjoy the new live experience anytime and anywhere by eliminating the distance between artists and fans by using the latest video technology.” Events filmed with 8KVR Live will let users virtually experience performances from front row seats, as well as other locations in the venue. Docomo has been at the forefront of developing 8K VR streaming technology using 5G. In 2018, it revealed an early version of the technology at a Tokyo lab, then in 2019 Docomo disclosed its system for pairing 360-degree spherical cameras and microphones with 5G base stations to record ultra high-resolution stereoscopic videos for broadcast. The company critically developed a way to distribute 8K VR videos simultaneously to large numbers of viewers, differentially distributing high-detail focus content and low-detail peripheral content based on each viewer’s current viewing angle. Similar technologies are likely to be adopted by other 5G carriers around the world over the next year. Multiple camera angles from events will be available, Docomo says, so users will be able to switch between vantage points at will. The service will also enable direct ordering of artist-specific merchandise during performances and include AR avatars of artists that will pop up when a smartphone camera sees their real-world merchandise. Event GamesBeat at the Game Awards We invite you to join us in LA for GamesBeat at the Game Awards event this December 7. Reserve your spot now as space is limited! Users will be able to download an app to view 8KVR Live videos starting in mid-February, though the carrier will apparently commence paid live broadcasts on or after March 18. Akin to selling concert tickets, Docomo plans to charge separate fees for viewing the 8KVR Live content, and has priced VR performances by Japanese bands Snow Man and SixTones at ¥3,630 ($31) each. Japanese carriers have been readying 5G services for wide-scale use at the upcoming Tokyo Olympics and are expected to use similar 8K and VR technologies separately and together to broadcast live from stadiums, starting in July. Companies such as Sony, Samsung, and Huawei are releasing 8K TVs to display the ultra high-resolution broadcasts, in some cases with integrated 5G to bypass wired television feeds. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. Join the GamesBeat community! Enjoy access to special events, private newsletters and more. VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"GSMA claims minimal coronavirus impact on MWC as ZTE cancels press event | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2020/02/04/gsma-claims-minimal-coronavirus-impact-on-mwc-as-zte-cancels-press-event"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages GSMA claims minimal coronavirus impact on MWC as ZTE cancels press event Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn People stand at ZTE's booth during Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, February 27, 2017. Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship. Learn more. Ahead of this month’s MWC 2020 in Barcelona, Spain, the largest annual gathering of wireless device makers and carriers, event organizer GSMA today said that despite seeing “minimal impact” from the Wuhan coronavirus , it’s implementing additional measures to mitigate health-related risks. But one of China’s leading smartphone vendors, ZTE, today canceled its MWC press conference, apparently due to travel issues related to the virus. According to GSMA, MWC is adding several measures to its prior cleaning, disinfection, and hygiene efforts, including suggesting a “no-handshake policy” to attendees, switching microphones between event speakers, and reminding attendees of hygiene recommendations. It’s also suggesting that attendees guarantee access to masks, arrive early in Spain to “allow time for self-quarantine,” and follow both WHO advice and whatever travel restrictions may be in place. Last month, ZTE said that it was planning a MWC 2020 press conference on the morning of February 25, where it would “launch and demonstrate a series of diversified 5G terminal devices and leading 5G innovative technologies” at the event, “aiming to meet the diverse requirements of consumers and customers for 5G applicable scenarios.” Beyond touting its 5G network hardware, which has been used by Chinese authorities to diagnose the coronavirus , ZTE was expected to showcase the Axon 10s Pro, a 5G-exclusive flagship that sports Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 865 processor and Snapdragon X55 5G modem , as well as a new 5G home broadband device and a Blade series phone. So far, ZTE only appears to have canceled its press conference, rather than its wider participation in the show. The company is set to have a booth at MWC, as well as sponsoring the 5G Summit 2020 , a multi-hour event that’s currently scheduled for February 24. That said, ZTE abruptly canceled its appearance at MWC Shanghai in June 2018 due to business-threatening problems with the U.S. government , though the issues were at least partially resolved shortly before the event began. VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! VentureBeat has requested comment from other companies that have announced plans to exhibit at MWC, and will update this story if there are any major developments. The GSMA indicates that it’s continuing to monitor and assess the coronavirus’ impact, but the event is expected to “proceed as planned” later this month. Updated at 2:23 p.m. Pacific: LG Electronics has withdrawn from MWC, citing coronavirus health concerns. In a statement emailed to journalists, the company said: “With the safety of its employees and general public foremost in mind, LG has decided to withdraw from exhibiting and participating in MWC 2020 later this month in Barcelona, Spain. This decision will prevent needlessly exposing hundreds of LG employees to international travel, which most health experts have advised.” The announcement makes LG the first major company to withdraw completely from the event, as ZTE signaled only that it was dropping its plans for a MWC press conference. We’ll update this article with additional details if they come in. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Coronavirus leads Ericsson to abandon MWC, Foxconn to keep HQ closed | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2020/02/07/coronavirus-leads-ericsson-to-abandon-mwc-foxconn-to-keep-hq-closed"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Coronavirus leads Ericsson to abandon MWC, Foxconn to keep HQ closed Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship. Learn more. As the deadly coronavirus continues to spread beyond its origin point in Wuhan, China, its direct and indirect impact on the mobile industry is growing, with an ever-greater likelihood it will materially disrupt large-scale operations. Today, leading networking gear supplier Ericsson announced that it’s withdrawing from the MWC trade show scheduled at the end of February, and top mobile device manufacturer Foxconn delayed employees’ return to its Shenzhen headquarters, both citing concerns over the virus. According to Ericsson, the decision to withdraw from MWC was made following “an extensive internal risk assessment.” This took into account the fact that the company “has thousands of visitors in its hall each day” as one of the show’s largest exhibitors and can’t guarantee employee or visitor health despite measures put in place by organizers at the GSMA. As Ericsson CEO Börje Ekholm explains: The health and safety of our employees, customers, and other stakeholders are our highest priority. This is not a decision we have taken lightly. We were looking forward to showcasing our latest innovations at MWC in Barcelona. It is very unfortunate, but we strongly believe the most responsible business decision is to withdraw our participation from this year’s event. Although the GSMA acknowledged this morning that Ericsson’s withdrawal “will have some impact on our presence at this time and will potentially have further impact,” it continues to maintain that this year’s show will go on as planned, calling this a “critical time” for the mobile industry to convene ahead of the fourth industrial revolution. It remains to be seen whether additional companies of Ericsson’s importance will pull out of the event, but Chinese hardware maker ZTE has scaled back its presence at the show , and LG withdrew citing health concerns soon thereafter. Foxconn’s separate decision to keep employees away from its headquarters due to the coronavirus (via Bloomberg ) will potentially have a noteworthy impact on the sales of its major customers, including Apple. The companies had expected to resume production of devices such as iPhones after a modest post-Lunar New Year delay, with employees reengaging on February 10. But in a text message to employees, Foxconn delayed their return until “further notice,” urging them “not to return to Shenzhen” while citing concerns about health and safety. Apple was among the first major companies to publicly acknowledge the potential impact of the coronavirus on its business , closing stores and later most of its own operations in China as the outbreak worsened. The company baked some uncertainty over the virus’ impact into its guidance for the current quarter, offering a spread of possible revenue results that seem to contemplate small disruptions to its sales. Since the company tends to manufacture and stock enough products for two months of advance demand, it’s possible that shortages won’t become obvious for many of its offerings until March, assuming demand remains unchanged. From a big picture perspective, Ericsson’s and Foxconn’s decisions suggest that the mobile industry could be off to a rocky start in 2020, potentially missing previously suggested targets for both smartphone sales — earlier estimated to hold steady from 2019 and 2018 levels — and 5G expansion, which is expected to be the key topic at MWC 2020. We’ll continue to provide updates on the latest developments as they happen. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"GSMA cancels MWC 2020 following exhibitor exodus over coronavirus | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2020/02/12/gsma-cancels-mwc-2020-following-exhibitor-exodus-over-coronavirus"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages GSMA cancels MWC 2020 following exhibitor exodus over coronavirus Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Qualcomm at Mobile World Congress 2018. Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship. Learn more. Following an exodus of exhibitors and attendees that ultimately proved too significant for organizers to ignore, the GSMA today canceled wireless industry trade show MWC 2020 due to concerns related to the growing coronavirus epidemic. The show was originally expected to start in Spain on February 24, with some related events scheduled for the preceding days. Previously known as Mobile World Congress , MWC has become the top gathering place for members of the cellular industry, attracting roughly 100,000 attendees to its flagship February event in Barcelona. Satellite MWC events in Los Angeles and Shanghai have historically enabled smaller groups of companies, including regional players, to meet and make keynote-caliber announcements later in the year. In a statement , the GSMA said that the “global concern regarding the coronavirus outbreak, travel concern and other circumstances, make it impossible” to hold MWC Barcelona 2020, regardless of the “safe and healthy environment in Barcelona and the host country today.” The organization says that it will work with the city to hold the event in 2021 “and future editions,” without suggesting it would postpone or reschedule this year’s Barcelona edition. The word “impossible” was likely selected for legal reasons. Under certain circumstances, legal contracts can be unilaterally exited if it becomes impossible for one party to perform. Bringing 100,000 people together for a conference during an international pandemic may not have been strictly impossible, but it may well have been “impracticable,” which means hugely impractical or all but impossible, given that attendee fears and travel restrictions have already impacted large numbers of attendees. VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! Exhibitors began to scale back their plans for MWC as coronavirus quarantine, infection, and death tolls grew, leading to both health concerns and broader travel issues. While companies such as ZTE and Samsung said that they were scaling back personnel at the show due largely to travel restrictions, Ericsson kicked off a wave of departures due to uncertainty regarding the health and safety of attendees. Numerous other companies, including Amazon and Intel , followed suit, with Nokia and several major European wireless carriers joining the list today. Until now, the GSMA maintained on multiple occasions that the show would go on, though it acknowledged the potentially disruptive effects of exhibitor departures and more stringent screening requirements on attendees. The organization banned people from one Chinese province from attending, and announced a collection of sanitization protocols designed to limit the potential of viral transmission. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Nvidia CEO: Coronavirus caution shaves $100 million from Q1 expectations | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2020/02/13/nvidia-ceo-coronavirus-caution-shaves-100-million-from-q1-expectations"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Nvidia CEO: Coronavirus caution shaves $100 million from Q1 expectations Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship. Learn more. Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia , said in an interview with VentureBeat that he shaved Nvidia’s expectations for graphics and AI chip revenue in the current quarter because the coronavirus could affect the company’s supply chain. Citing the coronavirus outbreak in China, Huang said the company is watching the situation closely. So the company shaved the revenue estimate for the first quarter out of caution. But he also said the effect is mitigated in part because a lot of Nvidia’s production (via contractors) is based in Taiwan. A third of Nvidia’s gaming business is in China, and the lockdown on the country’s citizens means they aren’t going to be doing a lot of shopping, he said. But it may also mean that people will stay at home and play more games. Because of the coronavirus, Nvidia and other companies pulled out of Mobile World Congress, the big mobile tech trade show in Barcelona, Spain. As a result, the organizers of MWC decided to pull the plug on the show. Event GamesBeat at the Game Awards We invite you to join us in LA for GamesBeat at the Game Awards event this December 7. Reserve your spot now as space is limited! For the fourth fiscal quarter ended January 26, Nvidia reported that it beat earnings expectations, with earnings per share more than doubling from a year ago and revenue growing 41% to $311 million. Huang said that he was happy that Nvidia was working with Tencent on a cloud gaming service, but he said the transition to the cloud will be a long-term journey in gaming. The GeForce Now cloud gaming service has launched in the West with an open platform, with several hundred games available. Huang said that Nvidia’s GeForce RTX graphics cards have now hit the sweet spot, with cards priced at $299. Huang said he is confident that PC gaming with RTX graphics, which have real-time ray tracing, will become more popular as the next-generation game consoles arrive this fall. Those consoles will have real-time ray tracing, and they will raise the bar for graphics, Huang said. Meanwhile, he said AI is the “primary growth driver” for Nvidia, with record sales of datacenter graphics processing units (GPUs). GamesBeat's creed when covering the game industry is "where passion meets business." What does this mean? We want to tell you how the news matters to you -- not just as a decision-maker at a game studio, but also as a fan of games. Whether you read our articles, listen to our podcasts, or watch our videos, GamesBeat will help you learn about the industry and enjoy engaging with it. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Huawei's Mate Xs and MatePad Pro 5G promise high-end tablet performance | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2020/02/24/huaweis-mate-xs-and-matepad-pro-5g-promise-high-end-tablet-performance"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Huawei’s Mate Xs and MatePad Pro 5G promise high-end tablet performance Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship. Learn more. Leaked fairly extensively over the past few weeks, Huawei’s Mate Xs foldable and MatePad Pro 5G tablet became official today, offering users access to the embattled Chinese company’s most powerful consumer 5G technologies. But they won’t be cheap, and thanks to U.S. government restrictions they’re running on an open source fork of Android called EMUI10 and will require their own non-Google core apps from Huawei’s AppGallery. Superficially, the €2,499 ($2,714) Mate Xs looks a lot like last year’s Mate X , but Huawei has upgraded multiple physical elements to address issues — real and perceived — in its first foldable design. Outside, an upgraded “Falcon Wing” hinge is now made with zirconium-infused liquid metal, promising much higher durability and more satisfying 180-degree folding. The screen continues to be made from plastics rather than plastic-like glass, but it now uses two polyamide films joined by optically clear adhesive, and there’s still a crease in the center. Inside, the Mate Xs has been bumped from the Kirin 980 to the newer Kirin 990 , a system-on-chip with a faster eight-core CPU and 16-core GPU, up from 12 before. AI is handled by a three-core Da Vinci NPU architecture based on two big cores and a tiny core. The chip also includes sub-6GHz 5G NSA and SA support, and 5G+4G dual sim dual standby for travelers, though it will notably only support the N41 (2.5-2.69GHz) 5G band at launch, adding additional bands in a future over-the-air update. Given that it won’t likely appear in the U.S., it’s perhaps unsurprising that the unit doesn’t support millimeter wave 5G at all. Above: Mate Xs. The MatePad Pro 5G shares core internal specs with the Mate Xs but comes in a form factor that looks very similar to Apple’s 2018 iPad Pro — albeit with some small and welcome improvements. Users will have the option of a Smart Magnetic Keyboard made with vegan leather and an Apple Pencil-like M-Pencil with 4,096 levels of pressure sensitivity, both using Bluetooth for tablet connectivity. Like the Mate Xs, the MatePad Pro 5G uses the Kirin 990 SoC, with an eight-core CPU at a base clock of 2.86GHz, a 16-core Mali-G76 GPU, and 8GB of LPDDR4X dual-channel RAM. The tablet has a 7,250mAh battery for its own needs and can recharge using a wired 40-watt SuperCharge system, but it also supports both wireless and reverse wireless charging (for Huawei-certified devices), features no iPad has yet included. Interestingly, Huawei is promising “the world’s highest tablet screen-to-body ratio” at 90%, surrounding a 10.8-inch display with 4.9mm bezels — a trick achieved by moving the front-facing camera out of the bezel and into a hole punched in the corner of the screen. The 2560 x 1600 panel claims 540 nits of brightness and a 1500:1 contrast ratio with DCI-P3 color gamut support. Four speakers tuned by Harman Kardon promise “impeccable clarity” and enable 3D stereo sound effects when used with Huawei’s custom software. White or gray magnesium and orange or green vegan leather housings will be available when the unit debuts for €799 (256GB) or €949 (512GB) in June; versions without 5G will debut in April starting at €549. Like the Mate Xs, the MatePad Pro models will run EMUI10; it’s unclear which 5G bands this tablet will support initially or via software update later. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Beyond: Two Souls deepens our human connection to video game characters (review) | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2013/10/08/beyond-two-souls-review"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Beyond: Two Souls deepens our human connection to video game characters (review) Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn A young Jodie Holmes in Beyond: Two Souls. Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship. Learn more. Editor’s note: This review contains minor spoilers, marked by section. We roll our eyes when Hollywood tries to imitate games. Most directors fail to capture the spirit of a series in a way that tells a good story. They get caught up in all the action and special effects. Like Quantic Dream’s previous interactive drama Heavy Rain, Beyond: Two Souls (out today on PlayStation 3) is a movie and game rolled into one, and David Cage is its director. Thanks to the motion-captured acting of Ellen Page and Willem Dafoe, both well-known Hollywood talent, Beyond comes even closer to film than we imagined possible years ago. The inclusion of likeable and expressive actors makes all the difference. Event GamesBeat at the Game Awards We invite you to join us in LA for GamesBeat at the Game Awards event this December 7. Reserve your spot now as space is limited! What you’ll like Emotional storytelling Above: Jodie and Nathan Dawkins. Only one person teared up more than I did during my playthrough of Beyond, and that was Page’s character, Jodie Holmes. She has a lot to be upset about. She’s a lonely girl who smiles little, and at first what I perceived as aloofness is really her defense mechanism. From birth, Jodie has found herself tied to an entity known as Aiden, and she’s endured a hard life because of it. The two are linked together with a chain of spiritual energy, and it’s through this bond that she can exert psychic powers. But Aiden is no puppet. Even without discernible language or a physical body, he demonstrates an amazing range of emotions. He’s prone to angry fits of violence. He can be jealous. He throws tantrums. But above all, he’s loyal and protective of Jodie. Players act out these emotions like a poltergeist when they control Aiden, choosing how to behave — what to throw or interact with — and when to stop. This creates a believable dynamic as players engage as both characters, each reacting to the thoughts and motivations of the other. You understand what they’re each feeling at any given time, even when no words are spoken. Above: One of my favorite side characters, Cole Freeman. The exceptional acting helps. Page is kind, intelligent, and resilient as Jodie. You won’t think of her as a female protagonist — just a well-developed character — and that’s an important accomplishment in an industry that has yet to achieve such equality. The supporting characters, like Dafoe as Jodie’s compassionate mentor, Nathan Dawkins, and Kadeem Hardison as her caring overseer, Cole Freeman, are equally as memorable and compelling in their performances. This story has more than one heart. Clear narrative purpose Beyond consists of many chapters, some short and some long, that are tightly woven stories. It skips around through the years, going back and forth on a timeline of events. One moment, you’re a little girl playing with Barbies, wearing pink clothes and hugging a pink stuffed animal and fearing monsters in the dark. The next, you’re a young adult in the military, running and crawling through rain and mud and still clutching that toy rabbit at night. Each segment feels vastly different — transporting players from a Navajo ranch to Jodie’s childhood home — and holds at least one surprise, but they all serve the greater story and succeed in more deeply investing the player in the characters. The disorder of these milestones in Jodie’s life is intentional. Each adds more context to the larger story so players can understand the characters and why these moments matter. These jumps in narrative also build suspense much like a movie switches from one scene to another and then back again. One hour will turn to five without players even noticing. Above: Jodie soul-searching in the desert. Believable choices Warning: Minor spoilers ahead for this section. Beyond involves two types of interaction: button presses, or physical movement, and choices that advance the story. The second is what makes it special. The most affecting chapters are those that use realistic details and believable life situations to create empathy. We’ve all feared the dark, but that horror magnifies when you’re a little girl who can commune with spirits — not all of them friendly. My favorite part, a beautiful balance of highs and lows, lets players experience what it’s like to be homeless. 1 2 View All Join the GamesBeat community! Enjoy access to special events, private newsletters and more. VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "